SUBPHYLUM III 



INSECTA 



801 



Palaeodictyoptera and the true cockroaches and soothsayers (Blattoidea and Mantoidea) 

 of later date. The less specialised members of this order are very similar to those of 

 the parallel group Protorthoptera. 



The Protoblattoidea are well represented in the Carboniferous and Permian of 

 Europe and North America by the following named families : 



Stenoneuridae, Protophasmidae (typified by the genus ProtopJmsvia Brongn.) 

 (Fig. 1545), Eoblattidae, Oryctoblattinidae, Aetophlebidae, Cheliphlebidae, Eucaenidae 



Fig. 1645. , 



Prolophasnia dumabi Brongn. Stephanian ; 

 Commoiitry, France. Antennae, ocelli, tarsi and 

 cerci restored from analogy. ■'/<j (after Hand- 

 lirsch). 



Fio. 1546. 



Eucaenus ovalis Scudder. Coal Measures ; Mazon 

 Creek, Illinois. Antennae, ocelli and tarsi recon- 

 structed, -i/y (after Handlirsch). 



(typified by the genus Eucaemis Scudder) (Fig. 1546), Gerapompidae, Adiphlebidae, 

 Anthracothremmidae, and (?) Cnemidolestidae. 



Order 11. BLATTOIDEA Handlirsch. (Cockroaches^). 



Head deflexed, often entirely concealed from above by the large shield-like pronotum ; 

 with orthopteroid moufh parts and long, numerously jointed antennae. Leqs similar, 

 with five-jointed tarsi and long coxae. Fore wings or tegmina more coriaceous than the 

 hinder pair, and more frequently preserved ; they are capable of overlapping above the 

 abdomen ; their subcostae are more or less reduced, and the anal area is distinctly 

 separated by a cm-ved furrow. Hind wings with an enlarged, folded anal lobe. 

 Abdomen short and broad, provided with cerci, but ivithout visible female genital 

 appendages. 



This order includes the majority of Paleozoic Insects, upwards of 300 species 

 being known from North American strata, a still larger number from European rocks 

 and a few from the Carboniferous of India. About 80 Jurassic species have been 

 described, half as many Tertiary, and we are acquainted with about 1200 Recent 

 species. In the most primitive family, tlie Archimylacridae, which includes more 

 than one-third of the American Paleozoic si^ecies, the neuration still resembles in the 

 main the Palaeodictyopteroid type. Highly characteristic of this family is the 

 condition of the long subcosta or mediastinal vein of the tegmina, which sends off a 

 large number of branches to the costal margin, either pectinate or arranged in groups, 

 but never issuing ray-like from the base of the wing. 



1 Scudder, S. H., Revision of the American fossil Cockroaches. Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv., no. 124, 

 1895. — Schlechienclal, D. von, Uber die Karbon-Iusekten unci Spinneu von Wettin. Leipzic, 1913. 

 VOL. I 3 F 



