8o 
Psyche 
[March 
preserved in the single specimen known. Martynov (1938) faced 
with the problem of placing the insect in either his Palaeoptera or 
Neoptera, came to the conclusion that Sypharoptera was palaeop- 
terous, assuming the flexed position of the wings as due to abnormal 
positioning at the time of preservation in the fossil state. He was 
also of the opinion that Sypharoptera was more similar to the Spilap- 
teridae ( Palaeodictyoptera) than to the Megasecoptera. Laurentiaux 
( 1 953 ) accepted this view but Rohdendorf (1962) placed Sypharop- 
tera in the palaeopterous Order Diaphanopterodea, regarding the 
flexed wings as being in normal position. 
Recently, through the kindness of the authorities at the Peabody 
Museum at Yale University, I have had the opportunity of studying 
this puzzling fossil. Since my interpretation differs from that of 
previous workers, I include here a new formal description of it and 
a discussion of its probable relationships. 
The specimen is a small one, the fore wing of the type being 
10 mm. long. Although the fore and hind wings are overlapped on 
each side of the abdomen, their venational pattern has been worked 
out without too much difficulty. 6 The results of my efforts to un- 
tangle the veins are shown in text-figure 5, which differs only slightly 
from that of Handlirsch (1911) : in both wings, in my opinion, M 
arises from CuA, and not as an independent vein from the base of 
the wing, as shown by Handlirsch. This origin of M can be dem- 
onstrated in the fossil by the use of ammonium chloride and also by 
wetting the specimen with alcohol or water. 
The subcosta terminates at about mid-wing, apparently on the 
costal margin; Ri, which is strongly convex, is close to and about 
parallel to the anterior margin for most of its length; there are 
several oblique veinlets between Ri and the costa; Ri, which is 
clearly concave, arises from R well before mid-wing and is directed 
away from Ri distally, giving rise to four or five pectinate branches; 
the wide space between Rs and Ri distally has several long, oblique 
veinlets; M, as noted, arises from CuA near the wing base, slightly 
before the origin of Rs; this is a simple vein without branches and 
it is neutral in its topography, neither convex nor concave J and is 
here designated as M ; two branches of Cu are preserved in the fossil ; 
°This was done by the aid of photographic enlargements of the wings. 
The two sets of veins (those of each overlapped wing) were traced with 
inks of different colors, following the precise connections or deviations of 
each vein. Eventually the veins of each color were traced on separate 
sheets of thin paper. 
