1920 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



107 



a study of this most promising field has been grossly neglected, and even the few 

 observations which have been made are for the most part badly in need of revision ! 

 Despite Handlirsch's claim to the contrary (and his opinion has gained a 

 surprisingly wide acceptance among recent writers), a comparison with the 

 Crustacea and "' Myriopoda " should convince anyone that the Apterygota rather 

 than the winged insects, are the most primitive representatives of the class Insecta, 

 and by no possible stretch of the imagination can the Apterygota be regarded 

 as degenerate winged forms, as Handlirsch would have us believe! Instead of 

 upholding Handlirsch's fantastic view that winged insects can be directly derived 

 from Trilobites without the intervention of apterygotan forms, and a long series 

 of intermediate stages, a comparison of the parts in insects, " Myriopoda,'' 



TANAIDACE 

 ANASPIDACE 



MYSIDACEA 



NEBALIACEA. 

 COPEPODA 



INSECTA 

 MYRIOPODA 



HROPLEURA 

 RANCHIOPODA 



RILOBITA 

 ROSTOMATA 



Crustacea, Trilobita, and the Merostomata, would clearly indicate that between 

 the type of mouthparts, head capsule, and other structures found in the Trilobita, 

 and those of even the most primitive representatives of the group Insecta, there 

 must have occurred a long series of intermediate stages leading through the lower 

 Crustacea, the lower Malacostraca, and the ancestors of the higher Crustacea (i.e. 

 Isopoda, Tanaidacea, etc.) before the insectan types of structures were developed; 

 and one cannot help but suspect that Handlirsch and his followers are either wholly 

 ignorant of the absolutely obvious and patent evidence aiTorded by a study of the 

 parts in the Crustacea and their allies, or they have deliberately ignored the 

 tremendous array of facts whose evidence should have convinced them of the error 

 of their contentions. 



It is the fashion nowadays to consider the " Myriopoda '' as the nearest repre- 

 sentatives of the common ancestors of pterygotan and apterygotan insects; but 

 here again, a comparative study of the structures in the Crustacea and certain 

 of the Apterygota such as MnrJnlis and Lcptsina slioiild have l)eoii made before 



