40 FOSSIL INSECTS OF THE BRITISH COAL MEASURES. 



Unless it can be shown by the discovery of a whole wing that, the reconstruction 

 now attempted is faulty, the balance of evidence is in favour of the provisional 

 reference of the Sparth Bottoms wing to the genus Mecynoptera. 



Family INPKRT.E SKDIS. 



Genus PAL^OMANTIS, Holton. 

 1917. Paln'oinantis, Boltori, Quart. Jouru. Geol. Sue , vol. Ixxii, p. 52. 



< u'lii'i-ic Characters. Wings short, twice as long as broad. Apex well rounded. 

 Radius, radial sector and median all powerful veins with few divisions. Median 

 with two main branches. Anal veins directed almost straight inwards. Interstitial 

 neuration forming an irregular meshwork. 



Palaeomantis macroptera, Bolton. Plate II, tig. 3; Text-figures 7 and S. 



1871. "Wing of large insect," Higgins, Fres. Add. Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club, vol. ii, p. 18. 

 11U7. Puln'uiiiaittlg ntucrofitei-a, Boltou, (juart. Jouru. C4eol. Sor., vol. Ixxii, p. 48. pi. iii, figs. 3 4, 

 text -figs. 2 3. 



Ti/jie. Remains of two wings in nodule; Liverpool Museum. 



Horizon and Locality.- Middle Coal Measures; Ravenhead railway cutting, 

 near St. Helens, Lancashire. 



tf/iecijic Clmractfrx. Divisions of radial sector occupying almost the whole tip 

 of the wing. Divisions of median and cubital veins occupying distal two-thirds of 

 inner margin. 



Description. The larger half of the nodule has lost a portion which contained 

 the tip of the right wing. The proximal third of the left wing remains, with its 

 dorsal surface uppermost, and its ventral surface closely applied to that of the 

 right wing. It is evident that the whole of the two wings was contained in the 

 nodule, but, when the latter was split open, a thin film of ironstone carried away 

 the middle and distal portions of the left wing. 



One unusual feature in the position of the wings is that they lie with their 

 ventral surfaces apposed. To bring them into this position one must have become 

 bent under the body, instead of falling sideways across the thorax of the insect. 

 The body of the insect would thus, if the wings still remained attached, lie between 

 the two. No trace of the bodv can be seen, but the left wing has a deep inward 

 flexure, such as it would naturally acquire if the body had been carried round with 

 the right wing and pushed into the anal area ol the left. wing. Had the bodv been 

 carried round in this wav the right wing would not coincide m position with the 

 left, but be thrust further out, which is actually the case, the outward displacement 



