﻿46 MR. 11 . BOLTON ON SOME INSECTS [vol. lxxii, 



Type- specimen in the Derby & Mayer Museums, Liverpool. 

 Locality. — Unknown. Donor: Major Chambers, 1858. 

 Horizon. — Unknown. Middle Coal Measures, South Lanca- 

 shire. 



(Dictyoneuron) higginsii (Handlirsch). (PI. Ill, fig. 2.) 



1871. ' Nenropterous Insect-Wing ' Higgins, Presidential Address, Proc. Liver- 

 pool Naturalists' Field Club, 1870-71, p. 18, tig. 15. 



1906. (Paleeodictyopteron) higginsii Handlirsch, ' Die Fossilen Insekten ' 

 p. 125 & pi. xiii, fig. 6. 



This wing was described as follows by the late Pev. H. H. 

 Higgins : — 



' A second and smaller specimen [of insect- wing] was obtained by myself 

 and referred to the genus Corydalis. Mr. J. P. G. Smith compared it with 

 Fulgora. A slight sketch of it was seen by P. Smith, of the British Museum, 

 whom it reminded of Gryllotalpa. Mr. Benjamin Cooke, of Manchester, after 

 a careful examination, says : " I believe the fossil represents the basal portion, 

 about one-third only, of the fore wing of a Chrysopa, Golden-eye, or Lace- wing 

 fly, or rather Nothochrysa, separated from Chrysopa by Mr. McLachlan on 

 account of the manner in which the third cubital cell is divided." This cell 

 is remarkably well shown in the fossil, and though I could only judge from 

 memory, I believe it is sufficient to settle its relationship.' 



The specimen was afterwards named, but not described, by 

 Handlirsch as ' (Palceodictyopteron) higginsii.'' Handlirseh's 

 figure is a copy of that given by Higgins. He did not see the 

 specimen. 



The impression is that of the basal portion of a left wing, the 

 portion preserved having a length of 32 millimetres. The greatest 

 width is 22 millimetres, across the distal portion of the anal area. 



The ' cubital cell ' mentioned by Mr. Benjamin Cooke is an 

 elongated, somewhat oval area tying in the middle of the base 

 of the wing. It has been formed hj a twig of a cubital vein 

 coming off forwards and outwards to join on to the main vein 

 lying in front of it. This is a feature of rare occurrence, and will 

 be considered more fully later. 



The costal border, which is preserved for a length of 29 mm., 

 is strongly curved proximally, and is gently arcuate as it passes 

 outwards towards the middle of the wing. The sub-costa is a 

 feeble vein, which rises towards the anterior margin of the wing 

 and passes outwards almost in a straight line. The area enclosed 

 between the costal margin and the sub-costa is very wide proximally, 

 and rapidly narrows down to an acuminate point where the sub- 

 costa reaches the frontal margin of the wing. 



The complete wing must have been at least three times as long 

 as the portion preserved, and the sub-costa would therefore join the 

 costal margin about the middle, or a little beyond the middle, of 

 the wing. 



The radius runs almost parallel to the sub-costa along its whole 

 length, giving off the radial sector a little beyond the middle 

 of the portion of wing, preserved. The radial sector comes off 

 from the radius at an acute angle, and passes outwards parallel 



