Cockerell — Insects in Burmese Amber. 135 



Art. XVI. — Insects in Burmese Amber; by T. D. A. 



Cockerell. 



I am greatly indebted to Mr. R. C. J. Swinhoe, of Man- 

 dalay, Upper Burma, for the loan of some specimens of burmite, 

 or Burmese amber, containing well-preserved insects. Mr. 

 Swinhoe writes that " there is no reason to doubt that the 

 stratum in which the amber is found is Miocene." Thus we 

 have for the first time a record of Miocene insects from Burma ; 

 and it need hardly be said that this amber fauna, as it becomes 

 better known, will prove of the greatest interest and importance 

 for the understanding of insect evolution and migrations. The 

 material now submitted, which will eventually be placed by 

 Mr. Swinhoe in the British Museum, includes three species 

 suitable for description, an Hemipteran, a Termite and a Psocid. 

 In the Records of the Geological Survey of India (vol. xxv, 

 Part 3, p. 130, 1892 and vol.' xxvi, Part 1, p. 31, 1893), Dr. 

 Fritz Noetling describes the occurrence of amber in Upper 

 Burma, and gives particulars of the localities. The amber- 

 bearing beds, which he considers probably lower Miocene, 

 consist of a soft blue clay, which is superficially discolored 

 brown. The amber appears to be limited to the upper 

 part of this clay, and was certainly not produced where it 

 is found, but must have been washed down the rivers to the 

 sea, where the deposition of the clay was going on. In 

 the same Records (xxv, p. 180) Dr. Otto Helm discusses the 

 Burmese amber, and decides that it differs from all other fos- 

 sil resins known to him. In the next volume (xxvi, Part 2, 

 p. 61) he returns to the subject, and gives a lengthy account of 

 the physical and chemical properties of the amber, for which 

 he proposes the name Burmite. „ Burmite differs from suc- 

 cinite (Baltic amber) in lacking succinic acid ; and is further 

 distinguished by its hardness and toughness, its vivid colors, 

 and its fluorescence. It resembles Sicilian amber in its 

 frequently red color. 



Enicocephalus fossilis n. sp. (Enicocephalidfe). 



Dark brown ; legs and antennas dull ferruginous ; wings 

 dusky hyaline. Wings broadly rounded at end, extending 

 some distance beyond tip of abdomen ; discal cell closed. Form 

 and structure of body, legs and antennae essentially as in 

 E. cultcis Uhler, except in the following points : last antennal 

 joint a trifle longer than penultimate ; anterior tibiae longer, 

 much more slender basally ; anterior tarsi with only one claw, 

 which is long ; hind tarsi longer and more slender. The fol- 

 lowing measurements are in microns : total length 3040 ; length 



