54 Journal of Entomology and Zoology 
included in the superorder containing these forms. On the other hand there is much 
that is suggestive of Coleopteron affinities in the Strepsiptera, and until more is known 
of their anatomy and development, it is preferable to suspend judgment in the matter 
of determining their closest affinities until the necessary evidence is forthcoming. 
Of the fossil insects, so little is known concerning the details of their anatomy, 
that it is futile to attempt to determine which superorders they should be grouped with 
(or whether they belong in new superorders) until more is known concerning them 
than the bare details of their wing venation. It may be mentioned in passing, how- 
ever, that the so-called Protorthopetra should doubtless be grouped in the superorder 
Panorthoptera. The Protoblattoidea resemble certain members of the Panplecoptera 
in some respects, and if their closest afhnities are with the Blattids as most palzontolo- 
gists maintain, they may serve to connect the Blattid-group with the Panplecoptera. 
Such Paleodictyoptera as Stenodictya have cerci like those of the Plecoptera, and the 
abdominal paranota of Stenodictya are very like those of certain members of the 
Panplecoptera such as the Lampyrids, Dermaptera (Avxcistrogaster) etc. The wings 
of Stenodictyia are quite comparable to those of certain Plecoptera, and its head could 
be readily referred to the Plecopteron type in certain features. The tarsi too seem to 
be trimerous in Stenodictya as in the more primitive representatives of the group 
Panplecoptera. On the other hand, Stenodictyia exhibits a great many characters sug- 
gestive of afhnities with the Ephemerida, and the determination of the closest affni- 
ties of those fossil forms must await the further study of their anatomical details 
which can be more satisfactorily carried out when better preserved specimens than 
the present-known fragments are available for examination. 
