THE ANNALS 
AND 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[FIFTH SERIES.] 
No. 69. SEPTEMBER 1883. 
XVIII—On the Classification of the Orders of Orthoptera 
and Neuroptera. By A. 8. Packarp, Jun.* 
In the forthcoming third report of the U.S. Entomological 
Commission we have endeavoured to ascertain the position of 
the Orthoptera in reference to allied ametabolous insects. 
The following pages are extracted from the chapter, with 
some omissions. 
We have examined the fundamental characters of the head, 
thorax, and abdomen (points neglected by most systematic 
writers), not spending much time on the peripheral, ¢. e. the 
superficial, adaptive characters of the mouth-parts, wings, and 
legs, which have been elaborated by systematic entomologists, 
believing that by this method perhaps more thorough and 
better-grounded views might result. The outcome has been 
to lead us to separate the Neuroptera, as defined further on, 
from the Pseudoneuroptera, and to regard these two groups, 
with the Orthoptera and Dermatoptera, as four orders of a 
category which may be regarded as a superorder, for which 
the name Phyloptera is proposed, as these four orders are pro- 
bably closely allied to, if not in some cases identical with, the 
stem or ancestral groups from which probably all the higher 
* From a separate impression from the ‘American Naturalist’ for 
P _ imp 
August 1883, communicated by the Author. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. xii. i 
