On some Insects from the British Coal Measures

Abstract

The present paper consists of a critical study of some hitherto undescribed wings of fossil insects from the British Coal Measures, and of insect-wings previously noted by other authors. I am indebted to Mr. William Eltringham, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and to the authorities of the Geological Survey Museum, the National Museum of Wales, and the Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle Museums for their courtesy in placing the specimens at my service for study. This specimen was obtained by Major Chambers, and presented to the Derby & Mayer Museums, Liverpool, in 1858. It is contained in an ironstone nodule, much similar to those of Ravenhead (Lancashire). Its horizon is not known, but it is undoubtedly from the Middle Coal Measures. It was partly described and named, but not figured, by S. H. Scudder in 1885; and a figure of the wing appeared in the same year in Zittel's ‘Handbuch der Paläontologie.’ This figure was probably due to Scudder, who wrote the entomological section of the work for that edition of Zittel's manual. The wing lies in a fine-grained ironstone nodule, one half showing a left wing, and the other half of the nodule containing the impression. Since the specimen came into my hands for examination, I have been able to uncover the apex of the wing and a small portion of the base. A little of the base of the wing is missing, and also the middle portion of the inner margin. The total length of the wing as now seen is 87