INSECTS OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 27 



Besides these normal features of neuration there are some other characteristics in this 

 wing, purposely left for description to the end. These are some peculiar marks near the 

 base of the wing, originally described by me as " apparently independent veinlets, 

 forming portions of concentric rings." These ridged rings overlie the probable 

 position, as here described, of the basal part of the lower internomedian branch, and 

 lie just beneath the initial divergence of the mediastinal and scapular veins ; they 

 consist of an alternate series of broken concentric grooves and furrows, some faint, 

 others in places very distinct, extending "over nearly half the width of the wing at 

 this point, i. e., almost reaching the upper branch of the internomedian vein on the 

 one hand and the anal vein on the other ; the most distinct are three short, shallow 

 furrows, with very rounded low ridges between them upon the upper side, next the 

 upper branch of the internomedian vein ; the outer of these is distant from the extreme 

 mark upon the opposite side about 2.2 mm. ; the central region, rather less than a milli- 

 meter in diameter, presents a slightly elevated, irregular, granulated surface, like many of 

 the rougher parts of the stone outside the wing, and has no peculiar structure ; the whole 

 lies directly upon what would be the continuation of the lower branch of the interno- 

 median vein were it present, and apparently obliterates it; one of the outermost 

 grqoves, an extremely faint and delicate one, crosses the anal vein at a very sharp 

 angle. This peculiar feature in the wing I formerly compared to the stridulating 

 apparatus of the Locustariae, and suggested that this insect thereby united characteristics 

 now found only separated, some in Neuroptera and some in Orthoptera. Several 

 naturahsts, e. g., Darwin, Dawson, and Packard, following my suggestion, have used this 

 as a striking illustration of synthetic character in early types of animals, and have 

 pictured this as the earliest example of stridulation. I am now obliged to confess 

 that I have led them altogether astray; this peculiarity, although bearing a strong 

 superficial resemblance to the stridulating organs in Locustariae, having, I believe, 

 nothing whatever to do with the wing itself The stridulating apparatus of Or- 

 thoptera, whenever it concerns the wings, is invariably based on a modification of 

 existing veins; in its simplest forms it is the mere thickening of certain nervules, 

 and furnishing them with a sharp or rough edge. In the original appearance of 

 a stridulating organ in insects, we should look for some such simple form as the 

 initial stage. But in this fossil wing we find nothing of the sort; no one of the 

 concentric lines or grooves are continuous with any of the neighboring veins. The 

 only appearances which favor such a view are: (1) the openness of the neuration at 

 this point, which allows this great scar to lie at the base of the wing without disturbing 

 more than one of the veins; (2) the curve of the anal vein, which has the appearance 

 of passing around this obstruction; but the course of which is in keeping with the curve 

 of the lower margin of the wing, equally explaining it; and (3) the curve of the cross 

 veins in the neighborhood of the scar, as seen on either side of the lower internomedian 

 branch in fig. 5; which veins, however, when narrowly examined, are seen to form 

 angles with the more prominent concentric grooves and ridges. These ridges, too, 

 are not of a form suitable for the production of sound, the depressions or elevations 

 being extremely smooth and gradual ; they are also of very unequal size and thickness ; 

 they^do not occur in the anal area, as in all Locustariae, but in the internomedian; 



