FOSSIL INSECTS. 



261 



The marls are finely laminated, and contain insects and 

 fishes in a remarkable state of preservation. The fishes are 

 very numerous ; one small species, especially, (Smerdis 

 minutus, Lign. 47,) which occurs in shoals, and is found 

 grouped in every variety of position. 



43. Fossil insects. — But the most extraordinary relics 

 are the fossil insects, which appear as fresh as if enveloped 



Lign. 48. — Fossil insects from the tertiary strata at Aix, in Provence. 



Fig. 1 . Tettigonia spumaria. 2. Mycetophila, imbedded while in the act of walking ; 

 the articulations of the body distended by pressure. 3. Lathrobium. 4. Allied 

 to Penthetria holosericea. The hinder legs are broken off, and one of them is 

 reversed, so that the tarsi nearly touch the thigh ; the palpi are long and perfect ; 

 the antenna remarkably distinct. 5. Liparus, resembling L. punctatus. 



but yesterday. A few of the most interesting forms are 

 here delineated (Lign. 48), on a slightly enlarged scale, from 

 the plate accompanying a memoir "On the Freshwater 



