366 MESOZOIC INSECTS OP QUEENSLAND, vi., 



Family MESOBLATTINID^E Handl. 



Subcosta much reduced. Radial area extensive and strongly 

 developed, sending numerous branches towards the anterior 

 border, and reaching nearly to apex. Media free, dividing 

 into a variable large number of branches directed towards the 

 apical border. Cubitus also free, branching variably, the 

 branches directed towards the posterior border. Anal field 

 large, well-defined, usually somewhat cultriform, with more or 

 less curved veins running chiefly towards the posterior border. 

 Intercalated veins and reticulation or cross-venation may or may 

 not be present. Mostly small to medium-sized forms. 



The above definition of the family is a slight modification of 

 that given by Handlirsch (1, pp.290, 378, 427), the alterations 

 having been made with a view to the inclusion of one of the new 

 genera from Ipswich, which does not seem to me sufficiently dis- 

 tinct from the described types of the Northern Hemisphere to 

 warrant the formation of a new family for its reception. Besides, 

 the family, as recognised by Handlirsch, already comprises forms 

 from the Upper Carboniferous, the Permian, and the Lias; so 

 that the new forms from the Upper Trias fall naturally into the 

 family, with respect to their geological age, as well as with 

 respect to their characters. The alterations allow forms in which 

 8c is not reduced to its full extent, and the branches of Cu do 

 not all come off posteriorly, to be retained within the family, and 

 also indicate that the presence of cross-venation is not as ex- 

 ceptional as Handlirsch imagined it to be. 



Handlirsch regards the family as directly derivable from the 

 older Puroblattinidce. From the Upper Carboniferous of North 

 America and Saxony he lists three genera, with five species. 

 From the Lower Permian of North America, he gives three 

 genera, with four species (one of these genera, Nearoblatta, occurs 

 in both formations). From the Lias of England, Switzerland, 

 and Mecklenburg, he defines no less than ten genera, comprising 

 twenty-four species. Thus the family contains a total of fifteen 

 genera and thirty three species. Handlirsch also remarks that 

 the family is only poorly represented in the Upper Carboniferous, 

 but becomes more important in the Permian, finally reaching the 



