190 MESOZOIC INSKCTS OF (QUEENSLAND, 1., 



(e.g., Panorpodes, and a new genus recently discovered in Aus- 

 tralia) have generalised mouth-parts, with only the barest 

 beginnings of the tendency towards the formation of the pro- 

 minent heak, usually supposed to be typical of the Order, we may 

 reasonably claim that the mouth-parts of the Proiomecoptera 

 were normally mandibulate, though they are not actually pre- 

 served for us in the fossil state. 



It is important to bear in mind that true Mecopterous wings, 

 allied to the Australian genus Tceniochorista, have already been 

 found in the Ipswich beds. Further, I am able to state defin- 

 itely that very similar forms occur in the Permo-Carboniferous 

 strata of Newcastle, N.S.W., and are being studied by me at 

 the present time. None of these wings show the Protomecop- 

 terous characters seen in the fossil under consideration. This is 

 a strong argument for the erection of a new Order. For it is 

 evident that these Protomecopterous wings are far older, evolu- 

 tionarily, than are the Mecopterous wings of the Permo-Car- 

 boniferous. Since, however, the Mecoptera must have descended, 

 by reduction, from Protomecopterous forms, it follows that our 

 Ipswich fossil must be a representative of a much older race, 

 that not only existed side by side with the true Mecoptera in 

 Permo-Carboniferous times, but preceded them in the Carbon- 

 iferous. That is, the dichotomy between Protomecoptera and 

 Mecoptera took place in Palaeozoic times. Thus the erection of 

 a new Order is justified on palseontological as well as on morpho- 

 logical grounds; for the difi'erences between the two Orders are, 

 both in time and degree, just such as Handlirsch has relied upon 

 in forming most of his other fossil Orders. 



We must remember, too, the composite character of the 

 Ipswich fauna. I have already shown that Protorthoptera exist 

 there alongside forms differing scarcely at all from insects alive 

 at tiie present day, and that Protohemiptera and Homoptera 

 lived side by side. Alongside a true Dragontiy, there has recently 

 been found another new type that is undoubtedly a Protodonate! 

 Thus there is nothing surprising in the existence of Proto- 

 mecoptera and true Mecoptera side by side in these fossil 

 beds. 



