SUBPHYLUM III 



INSECTA 



801 



Palaeodictyoptera and the true cockroaclies and soothsayers (Blattoidea and Mantoidea) 

 of later date. The less specialised members of this order are very similar to those of 

 the parallel group Protorthop tera. 



The Protoblattoidea are well represented in the Carboniferous and Permian of 

 Eiirope and North America by the following named families : 



Stenoneuridae, Protophasmidae (typified by the genus Protophasma Brongn.) 

 (Fig. 1545), Eoblattidae, Oryctoblattinidae, Aetophlebidae, Cheliphlebidae, Eucaenidae 



Fig. 1545. 



Protophasma dumasi Brongn. Stephanian ; 

 Commentry, France. Antennae, ocelli, tarsi and 

 cerci restored from analogy. 4/g (after Hand- 

 lirsch). 



Fig. 1546. 



Eucaenus ovalis Scudder. Goal Measures ; Mazon 

 Creek, Illinois. Antennae, ocelli and tarsi recon- 

 structed. •i/g (after Handlirsch). 



(typified by the genus Eucaenus Scudder) (Fig. 1546), Gerapompidae, Adiphlebidae, 

 Anthracothremmidae, and (?) Cnemidolestidae. 



Order 11. BLATTOIDEA Handlirsch. (Cockroachesi). 



Head deßexed, often entirely concealed from ahove hy the large shield-like pronotum ; 

 with orthopteroid mouth parts and long, numerously jointed antennae. Legs similar, 

 luith five-jointed tarsi and long coxae. Fore wings or tegmina more coriaceous than the 

 hinder pair, and more frequently preserved ; they are capahle of overlapping ahove the 

 ahdomen ; their suhcostae are more or less reduced, and the anal area is distinctly 

 separated hy a curved furrow. Hind wings with an enlarged, folded anal lohe. 

 Ahdomen short and hroad, provided with cerci, hut without visihle female genital 

 appendages. 



This order includes the majority of Paleozoic Insects, upwards of 300 species 

 being known from North American strata, a still larger number from European rocks 

 and a few from the Carljoniferous of India. About 80 Jurassic species have been 

 described, half as many Tertiary, and we are acquainted with about 1200 Recent 

 species. In the most primitive family, the Archimylacridae, which includes more 

 than one-third of the American Paleozoic species, the neuration still resembles in the 

 main the Palaeodictyopteroid type. Highly characteristic of this family is the 

 condition of the long subcosta or mediastinal vein of the tegmina, which sends off a 

 large number of branches to the costal margin, either pectinate or arranged in groups, 

 but never issuing ray-like from the base of the wing. 



1 Scudder, S. H., Revision of the American fossil Cockroaches. Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv., no. 124, 

 1895. — Schlechtendal, D. von, Über die Karbon-Insekten und Spinnen von Wettin. Leipzic, 1913. 

 VOL. I 3 F 



