320 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1213 



seem likely to afford important aid in working 

 out the stratigrapliy, and also to throw new 

 light on the relationships between the faunae of 

 the old and new worlds in Carboniferous time. 

 Many of the American species, though de- 

 scribed and figured, still await publication. In 

 the meanwhile, it is satisfactory to find that, 

 in spite of the war, the insects of the Euro- 

 pean coal-measures are being fully described 

 and well figured by Mr. Herbert Bolton, of the 

 Bristol Museum. The apparent poverty of 

 England in fossil insects of Paleozoic age may 

 prove illusory, due merely to lack of interest in 

 their discovery and identification. At all 

 events, Mr. Bolton is making known a number 

 of new types, his latest paper on this subject^ 

 containing accounts of new species, and a very 

 fine new genus, for which he unfortunately 

 uses the preoccupied name Palaeomantis. In 

 another paper^ Mr. Bolton gives an account of 

 some insects from the coal measures of France, 

 describing among other things the singular new 

 genus Megagnatha, which appears to have long 

 slender jaws, recalling those of the modern 

 Corydalis male. The name Megagnathus has 

 been applied to a genus of beetles, but it is to 

 be hoped that no one will think it necessary to 

 alter the name of Mr. Bolton's genus. Those 

 who propose to change names in zoology, 

 merely because they are thus similar, can 

 hardly understand what confusion would re- 

 sult from the universal application of such a 

 m.ethod. We all agree that absolute homonyms 

 can not be permitted to stand, but a difference 

 in the ending of the word is abundantly suffi- 

 cient to prevent confusion. In connection with 

 the evolution of cockroach types in America 

 and Europe, particular attention must be 

 called to Mr. Bolton's Neomylacris lerichei, 

 which certainly has a strongly American facies. 

 I should call it Promylacris lerichei, referring 

 it to a genus described from Mazon Creek, 

 Illinois. 



2 " On some Insects from the British Coal Meas- 

 ures," Quart. Jour. Geol. Society, Vol. 72 (1916), 

 pp. 43-62. 



» ' ' The Mark Stirrup Collection of Fossil Insects 

 from the Coal Measures of Commentary (Allier), 

 Central France," Mem. Manchester Lit. and Phil. 

 Society, May 11, 1917. 



While the European Paleozoic insects are 

 thus being elucidated, very welcome informa- 

 tion reaches us from Australia, of the discov- 

 ery of a rich fauna of Mesozoic insects.* It 

 appears that the specimens represent a Triassic 

 fauna, and consequently tend to complete our 

 ideas of insect phylogeny, filling in a gap which 

 has hitherto existed in the record. One of 

 the Neuropteroid faunas is referred by Mr. 

 Tillyard to a new order, Protomecoptera, hav- 

 ing the surface of the wings finely reticulated. 

 In modern Panorpa traces of the primitive 

 reticulation can be seen in a good oblique 

 light, and it really seems unnecessary to rec- 

 ognize more than a superfamily (Archipan- 

 orpoidea). 



t. d. a. cockerell 



TJniveesity op Colobado 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 THE EVOLUTION OF BACTERIA 



Dr. I. J. Kligler has recently contributed a 

 paper on " The evolution and relationship of 

 the great groups of bacteria." ^ The conclu- 

 sions reached are so surprising and so in con- 

 flict with commonly held opinions that the 

 contribution is well worthy of careful scrutiny 

 to determine whether or not the premises are 

 reasonable, and the deductions logical. It ap- 

 pears to the writer that in several instances 

 Dr. Kligler has failed to prove his points and 

 that his conclusions, at least when based upon 

 the premises and the reasoning used, are open 

 to serious question. 



Probably no fault can be found in the in- 

 troductory statement that the bacteria are 

 " among the most primitive of living forms." 

 It should be remarked, however, that this does 

 not prove that the present living bacteria are 

 any of them identical with, or even closely 

 related to, the original types of bacteria which 

 appeared upon earth. The next statement 

 can not be accepted quite so readily. The au- 

 thor says: 



* E. J. Tillyard, ' ' Mesozoic Insects of Queens- 

 land," Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, July 11, 

 1917. Also publication 253, Queensland Geological 

 Survey (1916). 



1 Journal of Bacteriology, March, 1917. 



