Vol. XX Vl] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 347 



allied, and may possibly be grouped into a third supersection, 

 the Palaeopteradelphia. I am inclined, however, to include 

 them in the Plecopteron group, since the Blattidae are closely 

 related to the Isoptera, and also resemble certain Plecopteron 

 nymphs. 



Many pterygotan orders of doubtful origin (such as the 

 Hymenoptera, Mallophaga, etc.) have been omitted from the 

 foregoing discussion. It may be remarked, however, that the 

 Hymenoptera very probably arose from ancestors not very un- 

 like those of the Isoptera and Notoptera (Grylloblattidae), and 

 would therefore be included in the Plecopteron group. This 

 point, however, can be decided only after a more extended 

 study of the Hymenoptera, and an examination of intermedi- 

 ate forms not at present accessible. 



It will be noted in the foregoing discussion, that the Gryl- 

 loblattidae are grouped into a distinct order, the Notoptera (a 

 term signifying that the wings have been superseded by pro- 

 longations of the notum), and this, I think, is fully justifiable, 

 if such groups as the Isoptera, Dermaptera, etc., are also to 

 be considered as distinct orders. In no other group of in- 

 sects do we find a combination of segmented cerci, ovipositor, 

 broad coxae, five-segmented tarsi, divided trochantin, later- 

 osternite (plate Is, of Figs. 2 and 3), distinctive sterna, etc., 

 etc., which is characteristic of the "Notoptera," and clearly 

 demarks the order from all others. 



It will also be noted that the Phyllium-\ike insects have been 

 grouped into a separate order, the Phylloptera- (or "leaf- 

 winged" insects). These are differentiated from other insects 

 by the flattened condition of the body, together with the great 

 reduction of the hind wings, the reduced and flattened an- 

 tennae, the broad sternites, with peculiar pleural sclerites 

 somewhat resembling those of the grasshoppers (yet are folded 

 upward and "mesal-ward" in a distinctively characteristic 

 fashion), the greatly reduced "cerci," flattened and greatly 

 modified "ovipositor," etc. 



The Phasmid-like forms and the Phylliidae are usually 

 grouped by recent investigators, into a single order termed the 



