430 MESOZOIC INSECTS OF QUEENSLAND, iii., 



two bifurcations in this distal part of the wing; these have to be 

 taken into account in the restoration of the fossil, which I have 

 attempted below. 



Type, Specimen No. 126^. (Coll. Queensland Geological 

 Survey). 



Horizon: Upper Triassic, Ipswdch, Q. 



Restoration of the Wings ^>/ Aeroplana mirabilis, n.s]!. 

 (Plate xlv., figs. 13-1 4). 



In attempting to restore the complete wings of this remarkable 

 fossil, I have made two assumptions which appear to be fairly 

 well justified, viz., that the shape and venation of the fore- and 

 hind wings were approximately the same (with the principal 

 differences preserved to us in the fossil as it stands), and that 

 the isolated portion of the forewing, shown in Text-fig. 15, lay 

 close to the apex of the wing. 



Even with this latter proviso accepted, and taking full ad- 

 vantage of the possibility of an error of one-sixteenth of an inch 

 in Mr. Dunstan's placing of this fragment, it will be apparent 

 that the length of the wings, in comparison with their breadth, 

 is enormous, the ratio being approximately 7:1. 



In filling in the gap between the basal half of the forewing 

 and the distal preserved portion, it is necessary to bear in mind 

 the possibility of one or more veins having reached the costal or 

 posterior border, respectively, in the interval. To determine 

 this, I examined the veins in the distal fragment carefully, with 

 the result that I found the uppermost to be more strongly built 

 than the others. This should, therefore, be the radius, as is also 

 evident from its level on the wing itself. Hence, if we assume 

 that there have been no other dichotomies of veins in the missing- 

 part of the wing, the veins below R in this part of the wing 

 must be, in consecutive order, Rs and the seven branches of M. 

 Of these last, it will be seen that M^ and M7 branch again. There 

 remain, then, as veins that have reached the posterior border of 

 the wing before this level, the two branches of Cu, and A.* 



" This interpretation assumes no further dichotomies of M in the missing 

 portion of the wing. 



