THE BALTIC AMBER MECOPTERAi 
By F. M. Carpenter 
Harvard University 
The scorpion-flies and their relatives have a long and 
varied geological record. They are well represented in 
Permian and Mesozoic strata, which were formed when 
the order was more extensive than it is now, but poorly 
represented in Tertiary deposits. Even the Baltic amber, 
which has contributed enormously to our knowledge of 
Tertiary insects in general, has yielded very few Mecop- 
tera. Seven specimens, mentioned by Hagen and Pictet 
a century ago, constitute the only published record of the 
order in the amber. 
The nineteen specimens forming the basis of the present 
paper have been accumulated since 1931, when my inter- 
est in the Mecoptera was first aroused. All of these fossils, 
except for one belonging to the British Museum, are part 
of the Harvard collection of amber insects contained in 
the Museum of Comparative Zoology. - 
The seven species represented in the collection belong 
to the living families Panorpidae and Bittacidae. This is 
the oldest record of the Panorpidae but not of the Bit- 
tacidae, which have already been found in Eocene deposits 
(Green River). The amber species also belong to extant 
genera : Panorpodes, Panorpa and Bittacus. The occur- 
rence of the first of these is especially interesting since 
it now has a very restricted Asiatic distribution. Note- 
worthy, also, is the close similarity of these Oligocene 
Mecoptera to living species. This was observed by Hagen 
(1856), who pointed out that he had difficulty in distin- 
guishing one of the amber species of Bittacus from the 
European B. italicus. A comparable similarity between the 
^Published with a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
at Haio'ard College. 
"A comparable collection of amber Xeuro}:)tera has also been ac- 
cimndated and will be considered in a sub.seciuent paper. 
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