E. H. Sellards — Types of Permian Insects. 249 



Art. XXIV. — Types of Permian Insects / by E. H. Sellards. 



1st the October, 1903, issue of this Journal the writer noted 

 briefly the discovery of insects in the Permian of Kansas. The 

 material is of exceptional interest as giving the most complete 

 record of Permian insect life thus far obtained. Somewhat 

 over two thousand specimens are now at hand and indicate the 

 richness as well as the interesting character of the Permian 

 insect fauna. For the present paper, leading types from the 

 collection are selected for description, a full account of the 

 fauna as a whole being reserved for subsequent monographic 

 treatment. Unless otherwise indicated, the type specimens 

 described are in the writer's collection. 



Part I. — Odonata. 



Odonata have not been obtained previously from the Per- 

 mian. Several genera are known from the Coal Measures, 

 those from the Commentry Coal Measures of France being 

 particularly well known through the researches of Brongniart.* 

 In the Mesozoic the group is fully represented by a rich series 

 of specimens from the Solenhofen deposits. The American 

 Permian specimens give, therefore, a welcome addition toward 

 a fuller history of this interesting line of insect development. 



The foundation studies of Comstock and JSTeedham,t together 

 with the special study of dragon-fly wing venation by Need- 

 ham,;}; have afforded for the classification of the dragon-flies a 

 basis much more secure than has been available heretofore. 

 In seeking types among the living genera with which to com- 

 pare the fossil forms, I have found it convenient to go repeat- 

 edly to Needham's paper, as being, in the absence of a large 

 dragon-fly collection, the most accessible and most reliable 

 source of detailed information regarding the wing venation of 

 the modern forms. I very gladly express my indebtedness to 

 these authors for their valuable investigations, without which 

 a study of the Permian types would have been attended with 

 much greater difficulties. 



The following discussion is based, so far as it concerns Per- 

 mian forms, on the exceptionally well-preserved specimen illus- 

 trated by the accompanying figures, 1 to 6. The genus and 

 species are new and I suggest that this type be known as 

 Tupus permianus. 



* Kecherches pour servir a l'Histoire des Insectes fossiles des Temps pri- 

 maires, Charles Brongniart, pp. 394-406, 1893. 



f The Wings of Insects, by J. H. Comstock and J. G. Needham, Amer. 

 Nat., vol. xxxii, 1898, and vol. xxxiii, 1899. 



JA Genealogical Study of Dragon-fly Wing Venation, Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., vol. xxvi, pp. 703-764, pis. xxxi-liv. 



