SCIEJSTIFIC SUMMAKY. 
319 
that readers of this class will he pleased to learn that the Geological Magazine 
(April and May) contains a valuable contribution from him on the fossil 
insects of North America. He deals at length with the formations in which 
the insects are found, and the character of the nodules, etc., in which they 
are present, and criticises closely the labours of his various confreres. He 
concludes his memoir by assigning the eighty-seven species referred to in it 
to their respective geological positions. Six of these, he says, are from the De- 
vonian formation ; fifteen from the carboniferous ; one from the trias ; and 
sixty-five fiom the tertiaries. Ten are Coleoptei'a : viz., one from the trias and 
nine from the tertiaries ; four are Orthoptera, all from the carboniferous ; 
nine are Neuroptera, viz., six from the Devonian and three from the car- 
boniferous. Five more, either Orthoptera or Nenroptei'a, are from the car- 
boniferous. Three are Hijmenoptera^ forty-five are Biptera., six are Hemi~ 
ptera, all from the tertiaries. Three are Lepidoptera, viz., one doubtful from 
the carboniferous and two from the tertiaries, one of which is also doubtful. 
Two are Myriapoda, both from the carboniferous, but one of doubtful 
character. No spiders have been found fossil in America. From this it ap- 
pears that the Di^itera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera (omitting 
the doubtful ones from Illinois) are restricted to the tertiaries ; the Coleo- 
ptei'a, with one triassic exception, to the same ; the Orthoptera and Myna- 
poda to the carboniferous j while the Neuroptera are found in both the 
Devonian and carboniferous formations. 
The Bone Caves of Brazil, and their history. — The Popular Science Beview 
of Scandinavia * contains a most interesting account of the Brazilian bone 
caves, by Professor Reinhart. The Professor’s conclusions have been thus 
formulated by a contemporary: — During the post-pliocene epoch, Brazil 
was inhabited by a very rich mammalian fauna, of which the recent one 
might almost be said to be a mere fraction or a crippled remnant, as many 
of its genera, even families and sub-orders, have 'vanished, and very few 
been added in more recent times. 2. During the whole post-pliocene epoch 
the Brazilian mammalian fauna had the same peculiar character which now 
distinguishes the South American fauna, compared with that of the Old 
World ; the extinct genera belonging to groups and families that to this 
very day are peculiarly characteristic of South America. Only two of its 
genera, the one extinct (mastodon), the other still living (the horse), be- 
long to families that in our epoch are limited to the Eastern hemisphere. 
3. All the mammalian orders were not in the same degree richer in genera 
in former times than now. The Bruta, Ungulata, Prohoscidea, and, lastly, 
the Ferce, have relatively suffered the greatest losses. Some orders, for in- 
stance the Cheiroptera and Simice, number perhaps even more genera now 
than formerly. 4. The post-pliocene mammalian fauna of South America 
differed much more from the modern one, and was especially more rich in 
peculiar genera, now extinct, than the corresponding fauna of the Old World. 
5. The scantiness of great mammalia — one might say the dwarf-like stamp 
impressed upon the South American mammalian fauna of our days, when 
compared with that of the Eastern hemisphere, was much less observable, 
* Tidschrift for populare Fremstillinger af Naturmidenskaben, udginet af 
C. Togh az C. Liitken, 1867. 
z 2 
