979 



Packard.] ^ • ■^ [Sept. 2, 



the structure of tlie ■wings, nor more than a general resemblance in the 

 mouth-parts." I provisionally divided the group into three suborders : — 



1. Platyptera. Termitidse, Embidie, Psocidae, and Perlidse (= Corro- 

 dentia and Orthoptera amphibiotica in pai"t). 



2. Odonata (Libellulidte). 



3. Ephemevijia (Ephemeridoe). 



I also added, "It is comparatively easy to give well-grounded differen- 

 tial characters for these three suborders. They are so distinct that they 

 may, perhaps, hereafter be regarded as entitled to the rank of orders, or 

 the Pseudoneuroptera may be dismembered into the Pseudoneuroptera 

 and Subulicornia (Odonata and Epheraerina)." 



Without giving the wing characters and after describing on p. 291 the 

 second maxillae, the Platyptera are defined on p. 292, and the structure of 

 the thorax and abdomen described in some detail on pp. 322-329 (in the 

 latter pages the group is referred to as Corrodeutia). 



Afterwards, in his Systematisch-Zoologische Studien* (1885), Dr. Brauer 

 boldly divides all the winged insects, the Synaptera (Thysanura) excepted, 

 into sixteen orders. He regards the Perlidse as the tj^pe of a distinct 

 order (Pleeoptera), while his order Oorrodeniia embraces the Termitidse, 

 Psocidaj and Mallophaga (the EmbidiE are referred to the genuine Orthop- 

 tera). 



In his .description of the Corrodentia, Dr. Brauer frequently refers ta 

 the Mallophaga, especially referring to the similarity between the thorax 

 of the Atropina and Mallophaga. 



As will be remembered, Burmeister's order Corrodentia included the 

 families Termitidse, Embida3, and Psocidae. Under these circumstances 

 the name Corrodentia should be restricted to a subdivision of the order 

 Platyptera. 



In 1886, in the fifth edition of our text-book on Zoology,! we added the 

 Mallophaga to the Platyptera, which thus included the groups of ]\Iallo- 

 phaga, Perlidse, Psocidas, Embidoe, and Termitidtc. Although Dr. Brauer 

 (following Burmeister who proposed the order Pleeoptera for the Perlidse) 

 separates thePerlidai from the Corrodentia as restricted by him for thereason 

 that the former (Perlidse) have numerous Malphigian tubes, are hemimet- 

 abolous and perennibranchiate, we are not yet prepared from a study 

 of the trunk characters and of the shape of the second maxillce, as well as 

 the wings and their mode of folding, to separate the Perlidse from the 

 other Platyptera. 



But once within the limits of the order, it is evident that the Mallophaga, 

 even if degraded Platyptera, should occupy a space distinctly separate 

 from the winged members of the group ; in fine, they should be referred 

 to a distinct suborder, equivalent to all the winged forms taken together. 

 Hence the Platyptera may be divided into two suborders : — 

 I. Mallophaga. 



II. Platyptera genuina : Superfamily 1, Pleeoptera (Perlidse) ; Super- 

 family 2, Corrodentia. 



* Aus dem XCI. Bande der Sitzb. der Kais. Akad. der Wissensch. I. Abth., INIai-Heft. 

 Jalirjang 1885. 

 t See also American Naturalist, Sept., 1886, p. 808. 



