54 FOSSIL INSECTS OF THE HliTTISH COAL MKASI'IJKS. 



Spilaptera sutcliflfei, Boltoii. 1'latc 1 1 1, tig. :\ ; Text-figure 14. 



1917. Si>ilai>teru sutcliffei, Bolt oil, Quart. Jouru. (jeol. !Soc., vol. Ixxii, p. 53, pi. iv, fi<,'. 1, anJ 

 text-fig. 



Ti/]>t'. Basal third of a wing; Manchester Museum (no. L. Sh)~). 



[fori::/m mnl Loi-nlif ij. Middle Coal Measures (grey-blue shales 13o 1 SO feet 

 above the Royley or Arley Mine) ; Sparth Hottoms. Rochdale, Lancashire. 



X/>i-fijif < 'Im ructt'i-x. -Subcosta ]arallel \vilh the costal margin; median vein 

 dividing near the base into two branches, of which the outer forks just beyond the 

 point of origin of the radial sector. Cubitus a large and much-divided vein. 

 Anal veins few in number. 



Description. This specimen was formerlv labelled " Stenodicti/a lobata," and is 

 one of three recorded by Sntcliffe, Baldwin, and others, in their papers on the 

 fossils found at Sparth Hottoms. The remaining two are described (p. 37) under 



Km II. ,S'jn7ri;>/,T.i s/r/,/j'ci, Holton : restoration of left wing, natural size MicMle (A>al Measure.-, 

 (shales al>ove (In- Kovley or Arley Mine) : Sparlh ]inttius. K'm-licbilr. Ijaiu-asliire. Manclirstci- 

 Museum (no. L. SUIT)! 



Mecynoptera ln/><'r<-/i/<if<i, Molton. The specimen consists of the basal third of a 

 wing lying on the median plane of a small irregular micaceous sandy nodule. The 

 finer structure of the wing has not been preserved, owing, no doubt, to the coarse 

 grain of the matrix. The chief veins of the wing are robust structures, and these 

 are fortunately well marked and clear. The wing-fragment is .T> mm. in length 

 along the outer margin, and -7 mm. in greatest width, but as the inner margin is 

 broken away and lost, the total width of the wing exceeded this, and mav have 

 been over '!<> mm. It belongs to a left wing, and when complete must have been 

 at least '.> mm. in total length. The perfect insect must therefore have had a 

 spread of wing of nearly 2<l() mm., or about S inches. 



The outer margin is feebly convex, the subcosta fairly parallel, sunk in a groove, 

 and gradually approaching the outer margin as it passes towards the wmir-apex. 

 The rate of approach is so gradual that the junction must have been far out near 

 the wing-apex. The intercostal area is crossed by a series of straight nervmv.- 

 which arc oblique in 1 heir course outwards. 



