A^fERIrAx PAT.Eoznjc T.xsECTS—iiAxnrjRscjf. Toy 



Funiily CHP^LIPHLEBID.l^:, new family. 



This is likewise a provisional ^roiip, established for the reception 

 of a North American fossil, the systematic position of which still 

 appears not quite clear, although many features indicate that it 

 belongs in the blatta?form series. 



'^'^he wings are folded over the abdomen. The front wings have a 

 distinctly curved anterior margin, a broad costal area, which is tilled 

 up with irregular, oblique, and intersecting veins. The radius runs 

 out parallel with and close to the subcosta, and above the middle of 

 the wing sends olf a sector divided into 3 to 4 branches. Media free, 

 with a furcate superior branch and a many-times divided inferior otf- 

 shoot. Cubitus free, with a numl)er of branches stretching toward 

 the in-ner margin. Anal area small, defined by an arched vein. (Iross 

 veins irregular, occasionally reticulate. 



CHELIPHLEBIA Scudder. 



CHELIPHLEBIA CARBONARIA Scudder. 



CheUphlehid atrhottdrla Scudder, ]\Iein. Boston Soo., Ill, 1885, p. 828, pi. xxx, 

 fig. 8. 



LocaVity. — Mazon Creek, near Morris, Illinois. Pennsylvuniaii; 

 Kittanning '. (Allegheny) stage. 



Length of wing, about 40 mm. 



Scudder also considered this fossil a "" neuropteroid " insect of the 

 group of homothetids. In my opinion, however, this insect can not 

 belong to the Pala?,odictyoptera, but only to the orthopteroids oi' to 

 the blattad'orms. The reduction of the subcosta and the bow-shaped 

 furrow of the anal area point to the latter group. 



Holotype.—OAi. No. 38149, U.S.N.M. 



Family ErC^FiNID.F, new family. 



In this family 1 unite a series of American forms of well-marked 

 blattid-like habit, with broad, nearly elliptical front wings, shieldlike, 

 enlarged, oblong prothorax, and robust body. In some examples, an 

 ovipositor is to be seen. Middle and hind legs are short, their femora 

 stout; the front legs, on the contrary, are longer, and were evidently 

 fitted for the seizing of prey. At the end of the abdomen are 2 rather 

 short cerci. The neuration is characterized 1)}' a very broad costal 

 area, which attains about two-thirds the length of the wing, by a 

 reduction of the radius to' few branches, and ])y the expansion of the 

 cubital area. The anal area is reduced and is marked off by a curved 

 suture. When at rest, the firmly chitinized, arched fi-ont wings were 

 folded over the abdomen. 



