STUDIES ON NORTH AMERICAN CARBONIFEROUS 
INSECTS 1. THE PROTODONATA 1 
By F. M. Carpenter 
Harvard University 
Introduction 
This is the first of a series of papers based upon insects from Car- 
boniferous strata in North America. The studies will be concerned 
in the main with previously described specimens (mostly types) in 
the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the U. S. National Museum 
and the Peabody Museum at Yale University, but will include new 
material whenever it is available. 
Order Protodonata 
Up to the present time only three species of Protodonata have been 
described from North American deposits of Carboniferous age. The 
present paper includes the description of a fourth species and an 
account of the previously described ones. In addition, I have in- 
cluded a discussion of the status of the ordinal name Protodonata. 
One of these protodonates belongs to the family Meganeuridae 
and another to the Paralogidae. The remaining two are best referred 
to Incertae Sedis for family designation, although their protodonate 
affinities are unquestionable. 
Family Meganeuridae 
Typus durhami, n. sp. 
Plate ii ; text figure i. 
Forewing: greatest length of preserved part, 88 mm.; estimated 
complete length, 175 mm.; maximum width of preserved part, 27 mm. 
The venational details of both fore and hind wings, so far as preserved, 
are shown in text figure 1. The general venational pattern is close 
to that of permianus and other known species of the genus. The cells 
of the wings are larger than those of permianus , especially in the area 
between MA and CuP; R2 + 3 and R4 + 5 seem to diverge even 
more gradually in durhami than in permianus. The basal origin of 
Hhis research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. 
NSF G 14099. and the article is published with the aid of a grant from the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 
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