528 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. V. 



A beautiful Dragon -fly, from Solenhofen, in the cabinet of 

 the Marquess of Northampton, is figured in Medals of Crea- 

 tion (vol. ii. p. 574). In England, the Lias, Stonesfield slates, 

 and Forest marble, have alone yielded fossil insects. Among 

 the specimens found in the Lias, is a wing of a very large 

 Dragon-fly, which Mr. Strickland states closely resembles 

 the recent species in the general arrangement of the 

 nervures, and is nearly related to the genus JEshna 

 (Lign. 119). In this fossil an opaque spot (a) exists on 

 the anterior margin of the wing, as in most of the living 

 Libellulidae. 



Mr. Brodie has figured and described numerous fossil 

 insects from the Oolite of England,* comprising Coleoptera, 

 Neuroptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera. The wings of 

 insects allied to the recent genus JPanorpa, have been found 

 in the Lias of Wainlode Cliff, on the banks of the Severn, f 



As in the case of the insects of the Wealden, the several 

 hundred specimens that have been discovered in the lower 

 beds of the Lias, all belong to forms that inhabit temperate 

 climates, and present a remarkable affinity to existing 

 families ; so that in one instance only has Mr. Westwood, 

 the distinguished entomologist, ventured to propose a new 

 generic name, if 



30. Fishes. — All the fishes of the Oolite are referable to 



* History of Fossil Insects, p. xiv. In this work will be found an 

 account of all the localities in which insect remains have been dis- 

 covered in the secondary rocks of England. The descriptive sections 

 are highly instructive. See also Dr. Buckland's Bridg. Essay ; and 

 Medals of Creation, vol. ii. 



f See Medals of Creation, vol. ii. p. 576. The transverse lines on 

 the wings are not fractures, as Mr. Brodie supposes, (Fossil Injects, 

 note to p. 59,) but nervures ; the figures were accurately drawn under 

 the microscope by Mr. Woodward. 



X Mr. Strickland, on the results of recent researches into the fossil 

 insects of the secondary formations of Britain : Brit. Assoc. Reports 

 for 1845, p. 58. 



