1976] 
Carpenter — Permian Insects 
373 
mm wide. The posterior third of this portion seems to be the first 
abdominal segment, but there is nothing preserved beyond that. 
The body anterior to the wings, presumably the prothorax, is about 
10 mm long up to the edge of the piece of rock containing the 
specimen. This part seems to be 4 mm wide, i.e., about twice as 
wide as the posterior part, but about half of that width seems to 
consist of a pair of femora that extend along the sides of the pro- 
thorax. 
The general picture derived from this curious fossil is of an 
insect with a long prothorax and abdomen, and with extremely 
long and slender fore wings, perhaps with an anal fan on the hind 
pair. There is some suggestion in this of a phasmatodean, but the 
venation of the fore wing has virtually nothing in common with 
that of the Triassic and Jurassic Phasmatodea described by Sharov 
(1968). Comparison with existing Phasmatodea is difficult since 
none, so far as I am aware, have normal or fully developed fore 
wings. 
My assumption is that Gelasopteron is a member of the orthop- 
teroid complex, in spite of the unbranched RS; but we will need to 
wait for more fossil evidence before removing the insect from the 
incertae sedis category. 
5. Family Permoneuridae 
Permoneuridae Carpenter, 1931, p. 124; Tillyard, 1937, p. 87; Laurentiaux, 1953, 
p. 425. 
This family was established for Permoneura lameerei from the 
Elmo beds and placed, with some doubt, in the order Palaeodic- 
tyoptera. The unique specimen on which this species was based 
consisted of a single wing, which I assumed to be a hind wing 
because of its broad anal area. Two features of this wing were 
unusual: the pectinate branching of RS and the apparent anasto- 
mosis of MA with the basal branch of RS for its entire length. 
A third feature, the absence of CUA, was unknown in the Palaeo- 
dictyoptera. 
Many different opinions have been expressed about this insect 
since its description. Tillyard (1937) was of the opinion that Per- 
moneura was a very highly specialized offshoot of the ancestral 
stock of Dunbaria and that the loss of CUA might have been due 
