Method of Fossilisation of an Insect Wing

Abstract

IT has long been known that when the wing of an insect becomes fossilised the original chitin is either completely destroyed or else replaced by some other substance, such as carbon, silica, or oxide of iron. This, however, does not explain the extraordinary perfection with which some insect wings have been preserved, even in Palæozoic strata. A recent study of two thousand fossil insects from the Lower Permian of Kansas, approximately two hundred millions of years old, has brought to light many specimens in which the wings are as perfect as if they had just been dissected from the insect; yet it is evident that the original ehitin is not present, neither is it replaced by any other substance. The explanation of this is to be found as follows: