118 FOSSIL LNSECTS OF THE BRITISH COAL MEASURES. 



(Archimylacridae) kirkbyi (Woodward). Plate VIII, fig. 3. 



1887. Lithomylacris kirkbyi, Woodward, Greol. ^\I;i^ [3], vol. iv, p. 55, pi. ii, figs. 4a — 4/>. 

 1887. ? Hermatoblattina kirkbyi, Scudder, Proc. Bust. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xxiii, p. 357. 

 VJQ6. (Arehimylacridas) kirkbyi, Handlirsch, Die Fossilen Insekten, p. 238, pi. xxiv, fig. 37. 



Type. — Left wing (tegmen) ; formerly in the collection of the late Mr. James 

 Kirkby. 



Horizon and Locality. — Upper Coal Measures (bed No. 33); near Meithil, coast 

 of Fifeshire. 



Description. — Our knowledge of this wing depends on the description and 

 figures published by Dr. H. Woodward. His description is as follows : " Outline 

 of wing pointed-ovate, slightly flattened on its superior border ; length of wing 

 15 mm., breadth 8 mm. The 'mediastinal' [subcostal] vein occupies rather more 

 than a fourth of the entire area of the wing ; it extends to about two-thirds of the 

 length, where it unites with the superior margin of the wing ; it branches six 

 times; one of these branches has three forks. The 'scapular' [radius] vein 

 extends nearly to the extremity of the wing; it remains single for over one-fourth 

 of its length, and then branches into three veins, the middle one of which is again 

 forked. The ' externo-median ' [median] vein continues parallel to the scapular 

 vein for a slightly longer distance before it branches at the extremity of the wing 

 into three inferior veins, two of which are again forked. The 'interno-median' 

 [cubitus] vein occupies about one-fourth the entire area of the wing; it gives off 

 three almost equidistant branches, none of which appear to be forked. The anal 

 vein is nearly straight, and has three other almost parallel oblique simple veins 

 occupying the anal area." 



Affinities. — Neither Woodward's figures nor the later modified drawing 

 published by Handlirsch are very helpful in enabling us to identify the genus. 

 Handlirsch has reversed the figure given by Woodward, and shows three veins 

 which may belong to the subcosta, a radius with three forward branches, and a 

 well-divided median ending on the wing-apex in nine outer branches. Woodward's 

 "mediastinal" becomes the cubitus, and no anal veins are shown. This seems a 

 more reasonable interpretation of the wing. 



Woodward's comparison of the wing with Lithomylacris pittstonianum, Scd., is 

 unfortunate, as in that species the radius is a large, much-branched vein, occupying 

 nearly half the outer margin, while the radius (scapular) in A. kirkbyi, Woodw., has 

 three divisions only as shown by him, although it is a more branched structure 

 when the figure is reversed and the veins reconsidered, as by Handlirsch. 



In the absence of the type-specimen, it is not possible to do more than refer 

 the species to the family Archimylacridae. 



