1966] 
Carpenter — Protorthoptera and Orthoptera 
51 
for the first anal of Comstock and Needham; however, I see no 
reason to make this change especially since the new name would al- 
most certainly be confused with Lameere’s posterior cubitus men- 
tioned above. 
Order Protorthoptera 
As noted above, the Palaeozoic orthopteroids present unusual prob- 
lems in classification. The Blattodea, although part of this phylo- 
genetic complex, are not included in the present discussion, since they 
are usually regarded as comprising a distinct order. The Manteodea 
and Phasmatodea are as yet unknown in Palaeozoic strata. We are 
therefore concerned in this discussion with the living order Orthop- 
tera (i.e., Saltatoria) and with a bewildering variety of orthopteroid 
fossils, some of which appear to be close to the Orthoptera, but others 
which are suggestive of the Blattodea, Manteodea, Phasmatodea, 
Plecoptera, or combinations of two or more of these groups. Un- 
fortunately, our knowledge of about four-fifths of these species is 
restricted to the fore wings or even to only a part of the fore wings. 
Plandlirsch (1906) recognized two main extinct orders in the 
complex, the Protorthoptera and Protoblattoidea, but found it neces- 
sary to recognize a third category, “Protorthoptera vel Protoblat- 
toidea” for the species which he could not clearly assign to one or 
the other. As more Palaeozoic insects became known, a gradual 
diminution of the distinctions between the Protorthoptera and Pro- 
toblattoidea resulted and the number of genera in the “Protorthoptera 
vel Protoblattoidea” category became nearly as great as the number 
in the Protoblattoidea itself. In 1937, Martynov suggested the sep- 
aration of the several non-saltatorial families into a distinct order, 
Paraplecoptera, leaving in the Protorthoptera only the saltatorial 
forms. More recently, this proposal has been amplified and somewhat 
altered by Sharov, who has suggested additional differences between 
the Protorthoptera, Protoblattoidea, and Paraplecoptera. This in- 
volves the transfer of a few species (Oedischiidae) with well de- 
veloped jumping hind legs into the true Orthoptera, restricting the 
Protorthoptera to one family, having an incipient saltatorial modifica- 
tion of the legs, with the bulk of the Palaeozoic orthopteroid families 
going into the Paraplecoptera and Protoblattoidea. 
Before considering Sharov’s proposed classification, I wish to dis- 
cuss certain aspects of the venation of the fore wing of these Orthop- 
teroids, at least those features which involve differences in 
interpretation. Sc, Ri, Rs, CuP and the anals present no difficulties 
in their homologies, but the media (and to some extent CuA) is a 
