1930 ] 
The Mecopteron Notiothauma reedi 
83 
THE WINGS OF THE REMARKABLE ARCHAIC 
MECOPTERON NOTIOTHAUMA REEDI 
McLACHLAN WITH REMARKS ON THEIR 
PROTOBLATTOID AFFINITIES 
By G. C. Crampton, Ph. D. 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass. 
Through the great generosity of Dr. Edwyn P. Reed, the 
distinguished Chilean surgeon, I have had the privilege of 
making an anatomical study of the remarkable archaic 
Mecopteron Notiothauma reedi , McLachlan. In presenting 
me with the only known specimen of the hitherto unde- 
scribed male of Notiothauma for dissection and description, 
Dr. Reed has placed me deeply in his debt, and I would use 
this opportunity of thanking Dr. Reed for the rare privi- 
lege of studying this unique specimen. 
The male of Notiothauma conforms to the general de- 
scription of the female in having a castaneous body, but the 
wings of the male, and those from a specimen which had 
been damaged by pests (presumably a female, though the 
sex could not be determined from the remaining frag- 
ments) are ochreous, shot through with brown, giving a 
“brindled” appearance to the incumbent wings. 
The male has a remarkable median dorsal process on 
what appears to be the fourth abdominal tergite (the speci- 
men has not yet been softened for study) and on the next 
tergite is a pair of rather small lateral tergal processes, 
while the tergite behind this bears a pair of longer lateral 
tergal processes, which give a remarkable appearance to 
the flattened abdomen. The abdomen does not taper like 
that of a typical Panorpid, and is somewhat suggestive of 
the abdomen of the Mecopteron Merope, which is rather 
closely allied to N otiothauma. 
