THE LOWER PERMIAN INSECTS OF KANSAS. PART n. 
THE ORDERS PROTORTHOPTERA 
AND ORTHOPTERA 1 
By F. M. Carpenter 
Harvard University 
The two preceding papers in this series dealt with representatives of 
seven closely related families of the Order Protorthoptera occurring 
in the Elmo limestone. The present paper treats additional families 
of more diverse relationships within that order and also covers several 
families of the Order Orthoptera. 
The problems involved in the systematics of the Palaeozoic orthop- 
teroids are intrinsically very great, mainly as a result of our frag- 
mentary knowledge of most species but also as a result of the 
variability of the venation within species. It was my belief more 
than twenty years ago (1943, pp. 76-77) that the classification of 
the Palaeozoic orthopteroids as suggested by Handlirsch first and by 
Martynov later was not realistic in the light of our knowledge at 
that time. Since then many additional orthopteroids have been de- 
scribed, mostly from the Lower and Upper Permian strata of the 
Soviet Union. These new fossils have added greatly to our knowl- 
edge of the early history of the orthopteroid complex. Through the 
courtesy of Dr. B. B. Rohdendorf, Arthropod Section, Palaeontolog- 
ical Institute. Academy of Sciences, in Moscow, I had the opportunity 
in 1961 of studying both the undescribed and described material in 
the collection of the Institute ; and of discussing with Dr. Sharov, Dr. 
Martynova, Dr. Bekker-Migdisova and other staff members of the 
Institute various problems of insect evolution. I would be remiss if 
I did not acknowledge at this; time my gratitude to the entire staff 
of the Institute for their kindness and help during and subsequent 
to my stay. 
During the past decade I have been able to study additional orthop- 
teroids collected at the Elmo locality and especially in the Midco 
beds in Oklahoma. Two additional trips to the Institute de Paleonto- 
logie in Paris have enabled me to make further examination of the 
Commentry fossils, which I still consider (in spite of the remarkable 
fossil insects from Tchekarda in the Soviet Union) the foundation 
on which our understanding of Palaeozoic insects rests. 
This research has been supported in part by a National Science Founda- 
tion Grant, No. GB 2038. 
Part 10 of this series was published in the Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts Sci., 
78:185-219, 1950. 
46 
