NEUKOPTERA El'll KM K K 1 1 ).!:. 119 



gaiiea, Heer's uudescribed Ephemera oeningensis, and a reference to an 

 Australian species Ijy Wilkinson. 



It is not worth while to enter here upon any discussion of the pre-Ter- 

 tiarv Ephemerida-, but one of the most interesting of modern discoveries is 

 Fric's gigantic Palingenia feistmanteli from the coal. 



- The American remains referred here are rather unsatisfactory, con- 

 sisting of a single imago and live different species of larva- and pupai. The 

 earlier sta"vs have not before been noticed in a fossil state. The least sat- 



O 



istaetorv is the imago, which is so rudelv preserved that only its three 

 caudal seta.- of equal length give any clue to its relationship. The larvse 

 and pupa- agree closely in structural features, and, excepting E. inter- 

 empta, seem to belong to one genus. The stoutness of the tibia-, which are 

 of nearly equal breadth with the femora, and particularly the size of the 

 fore tibia? where preserved, indicate pretty clearly that they were burrowing 

 in habit and belong in the neighborhood of Ephemera and Palingenia; their 

 legs, however, though longitudinally hairy, are not laterally fringed, as ap- 

 pears to be the east.- with such larva- so far as thev are known: and the 

 respiratory organs of the abdomen are too poorly preserved to offer any as- 

 sistance; the legx however, are evidently flattened, and hence I have plac.-d 

 them in Ephemera rather than in Palingenia. They seem, however, to in- 

 dicate the existence here of a distinct type, for they differ from such larva- 

 as are known in the form of the body, which is unusually stout at the thorax 

 and particularly in the mesothorax, tapering anteriorly to such a degree 

 that the head is very small, and it is also not produced anteriorly, or to a 

 slight degree only ; the abdomen tapers also either throughout its length 

 or from the middle posteriorly: the respiratory organs, if of the form and 

 position in which thev are found in Epheiii'-ra and Palingenia, would cer 

 tainly be clearly seen, whereas no sign of them appears upon -the upper 

 surface of the abdomen; there are, however, certain indications laterally 

 which may be referred to them, and if so this would be an additional dis- 

 tinction. The unfringed legs, in which femur, tibia, and tarsus are of 

 nearly uniform diameter, indicate a further difference from known types. 

 So little, however, is known of the early stages of this group that it will be 

 impossible to indicate the nearer affinities of these fossil larvae until further 

 information of living forms is obtained. (September, 1883.) 



