PROTEL YTROPTERA 



83 



referred to this order Permofidgor Till., which he had originally 

 placed in the Homoptera. In this genus there is a complete, 

 although narrow, sutural margin and a distinct alula, resembling 

 that of the Hydrophilidae, situated at the base of the elytron. In 

 Permofulgor the venation is more reduced than in Protocoleus, and 

 the genus appears to lead to the extinct true beetles of the family 

 Permophilidjc, whose remains occur 

 contemporaneously in the same strata. 



The venation of these early Coleop- 

 teroid types (Fig. 44) is totally vmlike 

 that of the elytron of any known true 

 Coleoptera, since in the latter insects 

 the main veins are simple and un- 

 branched throughout their courses and 

 the anal area much reduced. In 1928, 

 Forbes pointed out that the deep notch 

 at the articulation and the basally 

 extended anal area are common Orthop- 

 teroid features, together with the richly 

 branched condition of the main veins. 

 On these and other features he refers 

 Protocoleus to the group Gryllacridiidae 

 of the Orthoptera. The resemblance 

 between this genus and a typical 

 Gryllacrid, however, is not very marked, 

 the venation being very different in 

 the two cases and the absence of the 

 characteristic cross- veinlets of Gryllacris is particularly noticeable. 



Protelytroptera Till. Some of the most remarkable insect 

 remains found in the Elmo limestone of the Lower Permian rocks 

 of Kansas are those to which Tillyard (1931) gave the ordinal name 

 of Protelytroptera. The discovery of further material has enabled 

 these fossils to be studied more fully by Carpenter (1933). While 

 a certain amount of detail is known with regard to their general 

 external form and structure, no light has, so far, been shed as 

 regards the character of their mouth-parts. In the more 

 generalised types such as Protelytron the fore wings were convex 



Fig. 44. Protocoleus mitchelli 

 Till, elytron x 3. (After 

 Tillyard, Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 N.S.W., XLIX., 1924.) 



