28 Dr. H. Woodward — Fossii Insect from Coal-measures. 



described another fossil insect closely allied to the above, which he 

 has there named ITomoioptera Woodwardi [pi. xxxvi (20), fig. 10], 

 but had originally described in 1890 (Bull. See. Philom. Paris, 

 tome ii, pi. i) as Lithomantis Woodwardi, Brong. M. Brongniart 



Fig. 4. — Somoioptera {Lithomantis) Woodivardi, Brong., 1890. Coal-measures: 

 Commentry, France. One-half nat. size. 



however, justified the adoption of the later generic name 

 Homoioptera, on the ground that he found the Commentry 

 insect did not actually agree with the living Mantid^. But 

 although they ought to be referred to different genera, they are 

 not far removed from one another, and they both possess wing-like 

 expansions on the prothorax. These forms, Lithomantis, Fouquea, 

 Homoioptera, and thirteen other genera enumerated by M. Brongniart, 

 are arranged by him under the family Platypterida. 



He considers all these insects to be Neuroptera in their general 

 characters ; they attain to a large size, the smallest not being less 

 than nine centimetres across the wings. They are all extinct 

 forms, the group to which they may best be compared being the 

 EPHEMERiDiE. They differ in the character of the nervation of 

 their wings ; the radius is not simple, but more or less dichotomising, 

 as well seen in our Fig. 1 (III) ; furthermore, the second pair of 

 wings are larger and more developed than the first pair, which is 

 not the case in living Ephemera. These insects, as is common with 

 nearly all the fossil genera, are only known to us (as a rule) by 

 their wings, their bodies and limbs being extremely rare, and 

 seldom found complete in the Coal-measures or in other old deposits 

 yielding fossil insects. 



It is doubtful whether the wing, now figured for the first time, 

 from Mr. Stobbs' collection, is specifically distinct from Lithomantis 



