Charles Brongniart — Fossil Insects of the Primarij Rocks. 489 



absolutely new ; I shall designate the family by the name of 

 Platypterida. 



The wings are broad, generally rounded at their extremity, re- 

 sembling, morphologically speaking, the wings of the Protophasmida, 

 but differing from them completely by the neuration ; the nervures, 

 in fact, are rather separated one from the other, and the wings are 

 coloured by pigments often forming very elegant outlines. The 

 body is less blunt than that of the preceding insects, and the 

 abdomen is terminated, in one of the types, by two filaments. 



This family will comprise four genera, namely : — 1. Lamproptilia 

 (L. Grand' Eunji, L. priscotincta, L. elegans, mihi). 2. Zeilleria ; Z. 

 fasca, Z. formosa, Z. carbonaria (mihi). 3. Spilaptera ; S. PacTiardi, 

 S. venusta, S. libellidoides (mihi). 4. Acridites prisons (Andree). 



Afterwards comes a series of insects which may be included in the 

 order of the Pseudo-Neuroptera ; six families may, in the present 

 state of our knowledge, take their place in this order. 



1. The family of the Megasecopterida, mihi (in which I have 

 placed eight genera), is characterized by insects with a body more or 

 less robust, with a head generally small, with legs of middle size, 

 with an abdomen terminated by two long appendices, which appear 

 to be multi-articulate and hairy, with wings nearly sinnlar to one 

 another, rather elongated and narrowed at their base, showing 

 nervures much separated from one another, and united by large 

 nervures, which gives them a very special fades. The abdomen 

 sometimes presents lateral plates which, must have served for 

 respiration. 



The genera Protocapnia, C. Brong., Brodia (Br. priscotincta) , Scud- 

 der, Tricliaptum, C. Brong. Campyloptera, C. Brong., will be classed 

 in this group. The wings of these insects are generally coloured 

 by rather irregularly disposed spots. 



The genus Sphecoptora (mihi) comprises insects with very slender 

 wings, extremely pedunculated, very narrow, and of a deep tint, 

 ornamented with little circles deprived of colour, and rather irre- 

 gularly arranged. 



Here I think should be placed the Breyeria Borinensis, described 

 by M. Preudhomme de Borre. 



The genus Woodwardich (mihi) is a very interesting one ; it in- 

 cludes three specific types — W. modesta, W. nigra (Plate XII. Fig. 1), 

 and W. longicauda. These two last are remarkably well preserved ; 

 the head is rather small, and very distinct from the thoracic rings. 

 The prothorax is shorter than the two other rings. The abdomen, 

 composed of ten rings, is slightly cylindrical, narrower at its ex- 

 tremity, and terminated by two long filaments. The wings are 

 triangular, and, as they are very elongated, they present an obtuse 

 angle nearly in the middle of the wing. The wings are of a deep 

 colour, and present here and there little rounded spots of a brighter 

 shade. 



The body of W. nigra is 8 centimetres in length, without counting 

 the filaments, which are from 10 to 12 centimetres long. The 

 breadth of the fully-extended wings is at least 16 centimetres. 



It is here that I j)ropose to place the genus Corydaloides (mihi), 



