i877J 
Notices of Books . 
255 
Neuroptera, 7 ; Coleoptera, 116; Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, 12. 
Lepidoptera and Diptera are totally wanting, and the only 
Hy menopterous relic is a single wing. The author justly re- 
marks that the hard elytra of the beetles m*ay account for their 
relative numerical superiority, “ but as the delicate membranous 
wings of the Termites have been preserved, there can be little 
doubt that if Lepidoptera had lived in the lias island, and fallen 
into the water, some traces of them would have been preserved.” 
The absence of Diptera was a truly enviable feature of those 
days. Among the beetles the most striking feature is the relative 
abundance of the Buprestidae, which we have to some extent 
explained ; the paucity of weevils, due doubtless to the compa- 
rative scarcity of the seeds and fruits on which they feed ; the 
total absence of long-horns, evidently not from a corresponding 
reason, as, like the Buprestidae, they feed on wood ; of ladybirds 
and of Brachelytra (devil's coach-horses). The scarcity of the 
Lamellicornes (dung-beetles, &c.) points to the want of ruminant 
animals, upon whose dung they prey. From a consideration of 
the plants and animals we may infer that the climate was at 
least semi-tropical. 
In the Jurassic period “ an immense sea extended over a great 
part of Europe, and in Switzerland only a few islands and coral- 
reefs rose above its surface.” The islands of this period exhibit 
a flora having many links of affinity with that of the Lias, though 
the species are very distindl and deciduous leafy trees do not yet 
appear. The woody vegetation consisted chiefly of Conifers and 
Cycads, of species similar to some now flourishing in the 
southern hemisphere. The total number of species was small, 
as in the coral groups of the Pacific. The fauna of the Swiss 
Jurassic islands, as far as yet known, presents merely a few rep- 
tiles. If we complete the pidture by a reference to contempo- 
rary deposits at Solenhofen, and in England and France, we 
find this period characterised by the appearance of the most 
ancient bird of the pristine world ( Archaeopteryx macrura ), once 
regarded as a connecfting-link between reptiles and birds. A 
dozen species of the Pterodadtyle have been found at Solenhofen, 
and preyed doubtless on the gigantic dragonflies and large grass- 
hoppers. The existence of dragonflies and of water-scorpions 
proves the existence of fresh-water lakes and pools. Longicorn 
beetles and Buprestids show that the islands were well wooded. 
The first Lepidopterous species, Bombyx antiqua , makes its ap- 
pearance. The Jurassic strata of England have yielded remains 
of eighteen small mammals, belonging to the marsupial class 
which has in modern times its almost exclusive locality in 
Australia. But earlier traces of mammals have been found in 
the Trias of Richmond (Virginia), and in the Upper Keuper of 
Wirtemberg and England. The distribution of land and water 
in Central Europe at this period was remarkable. A large 
irregularly-shaped island comprised Bohemia, a narrow strip of 
