[075]

The following description of the Insects represented in this Plate is founded on information received from Mr. Curtis and Mr. Sainouelle. [076]

Figs. 1 and 2 belong to the family of Curculionidæ, of which the Diamond beetle is a familiar example. They were discovered by Mr.Wm. Anstice in nodules of Iron stone from the Coal formation of Coalbrook Dale.

Fig. 1 nearly resembles some of the South American types of Curculio, but the antennæ are longer and stronger than is usual in living species. Only the back of the head is visible, with faint indications of the place of the eyes; the Rostrum is not apparent, it probably descends into the Iron stone beneath, and this position will explain the appearance and place of the Antennæ.

The Elytra seem to have been connate towards their lower extremity, but their line of junction is visible towards the Thorax. The substance of the Elytra and Thorax, and of portions of the legs is replaced by white Iron ore, having the lustre of Satin.

Mr. Curtis conceives that the tufted appearance of the legs may have been caused by fungi formed after death, as often happens in tropical climates. The enlargement of the Femur of the hindmost leg in our fossil is a character peculiar to the Curculionidæ.* (Original.)

Fig. 2. Mr . Samouelle considers this extinct fossil species to approach most nearly to the Brachycerus apterus of Africa. (Original.)

* Until more perfect data are found, on which generic characters can be established, I propose to designate this Insect by the provisional name of Curculioides Ansticii.

The animal lies on its back with the left side raised upwards, and exhibiting a portion of the exterior surface of the left Elytron.

At a. b. are the remains of antennae, and near the base of a, [077] apparently a fragment of the proboscis; the legs are all imperfect; the thorax is very large, and only its inferior surface is visible, being exposed by the removal of the pectoral portion of the trunk; this surface is covered with irregular indentations, which represent the hollow interior of a series of spinous tubercles, and verrucose projections on the back of the thorax.

In the centre of the thorax is a compound depression larger than the rest, indicating the presence of a corresponding projection on the back.

Among living Curculionidæ irregular tubercles and projections of this kind occur on the thorax of the Brachycerus apterus.

The left Elytron only is distinctly visible, embracing with its margin the side of the Abdomen; its outer, surface is irregularly and minutely punctate. Two spinous tubercles project from near its posterior extremity, and a corresponding tubercle from the extremity of the right elytron. Similar spines occur on the Elytrons of Brachycerus; and of some Curculionidæ of N. Holland. The abdominal rings are very distinct. I shall designate this insect by the provisional name of Curculioides Prestvicii.

M. Audouin exhibited at the meeting of the Naturforscher at Bonn, in September, 1835, a beautiful wing of a neuropterous Insect, in a nodule of clay Iron stone, apparently also from the neighbourhood of Coalbrook Dale, which had been purchased at the sale of Parkinson's collection by Mr. Mantell, and transmitted by him to M. Brongniart. This wing is nearly three inches long, and closely resembles that of the living Corydalis of Carolina and Pensylvania; it is much broader and nearly of the length of the wing of a large Dragon Fly.

[077]
Fig. 3. Limulus trilobitoides (nobis) foinmino' the Nucleus of a nodule of Iron ore from Coalbrook Dale.
V. I. p. 396.* (Original.) [078]

* Several specimens of this species are in the collection of Mr. Wm. Anstice at Madely Wood. Our figure is taken from a cast or impression of the back of the animal in Iron stone, in which the transverse lines across the abdominal segment are not very apparent; other specimens exhibit deep transverse flutings, externally resembling the separate segments of the back of a Trilobite, but apparently not dividing the shell into more thaim one abdominal Plate, nor admitting of flexure like the articulating segments of a Trilohite.

The transverse depressions on the back of the second segment of [078] the body of this animal, form a character wherein it approaches nearer than the living Limulus to the structure of Trilobites. The articulation of the long awl-shaped tail with the body in Fig. 3, and in other specimens is very distinct. This Limulus is the Entomolithus monoculites of Martin, (Petrifacta Derbiensia, Tab. 45, Fig.4.) and Belinurus bellulus of Konig, (Icon. Sect. Pl. XVIII. No. 230.) M. Parkinson, Org. Rem. iii. Pl. XVII. Fig. 18, has figured a similar fossil from Dudley, in iron stone of the Coal formation.

Figs. 4—9. Elytra of Insects in the Oolitic slate of Stonesfield. Mr. Curtis considers all these to belong to the family Buprestis. (Original.)

Fig. 10. Leg of an Insect in the Stonesfield slate, Oxon, considered by Mr. Curtis to be that of a Curculio.* (Original.)

Fig. 11. A fossil Fly from the fresh water formation of
Aix in Provence, in the collection of Mrs. Murchison.
Mr. Curtis considers this Fly to be of the same species with one of those engraved in Fig. 11 of his
Plate of Insects from this locality, in Jameson 's
Journal, Oct. 1829. (Original.)

Although it agrees with no living genus, he thinks it undoubtedly belongs to the family of Tipulidæ, [079] and is nearly related to the genus Bibio, which is now widely distributed, being common in Europe, and in N. and S. America.

Fig. 12. A fossil Spider from the Miocene Fresh-water formation at Aix, in Provence, in the collection of Mrs. Murchison; the under surface of the Animal is presented, and the little tubercles near the hinder part of the abdomen are Papillæ of the spinning organs, apparently, protruded by pressure.
See Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, 4th edit. vol. i. p. 204; and Herold, von der Erzeugung der Spinnen im Eie, Tab. ii. Figs. 4. 9. 11. r. (Original.)

Fig. 13. From a drawing by M. Cotta of the fragment of a larger Scorpion, which is slightly delineated in Pl. 46', Fig. 2, near the forceps of the smaller and more perfect Scorpion figured in that Plate. I received this drawing from Count Steinberg, in August, 1835. (Original.)
a. Dorsal scales of the abdomen.
b. Caudal segments.
c. Intestinal Canal.?
d. Fragment of Intestinal Canal.?

* Mr. Rr. C. Taylor mentions the occurrence of the wing covers of Beetles in the shale of the Danby Coal pits, in the Eastern Moorlands of Yorkshire. This shale has nearly the same place in the Oolitic series as the Stonesfield slate. See Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. V. iii. P. 361.

In the private collection of Dr. de Siebold at Leyden, I saw in Oct. 1835, a most beautiful and unique specimen of a Buprestis, from Japan, about an inch long, converted to Chalcedony. Even the antennæ and portions of the legs are distinctly preserved.

In the same collection are fragments of silicified trees, bored with tubular cavities, apparently by the larvæ of animals of this kind; and within these cavities, a quantity of dust, produced by the boring, was observed by M. Brougniart to be converted to Chalcedony. From this circumstance we may conjecture that the perfect insect was lodged in a similar tube, when it became transformed into Chalcedony. The surface of this Insect is covered with clusters of minute concentric rings of Chalcedony (Orbicules of Brouigniart) so common in sihicified fossil shells.