1980] 
Carpenter — Carboniferous Insects 
117 
Figure 5. Photograph of protorthopteron, no. 11030 (K6343), William Penn 
Memorial Museum, from Upper Carboniferous of Pennsylvania, near Audendried 
Village. Length of wing fragment, 25 mm. 
The well-known variability of the venation within species of the 
Blattaria, both existing and extinct, makes the taxonomy of the 
fossil roaches, at least of the Palaeozoic species, very difficult, 
especially since the earlier workers on these fossils did not take the 
variation into consideration during the course of their studies. 
Recently, Dr. Jorg Schneider of the Bergakademie Freiberg, DDR, 
has undertaken a series of studies on Palaeozoic roaches (1977, 
1978a, 1978b, 1980), with revised concepts of species, genera, and 
families. A great deal of specific synonymy seems likely, with 
perhaps as many as 80% of the species described from some deposits 
being placed in synonymy, and with extensive generic synonymy. 
For this reason and because all of the specimens in the collections at 
hand consist of wings, without body parts, I have not attempted 
generic identification. Some of the wings are very well preserved, 
however, and could be of special interest in connection with 
revisional studies, such as those being done by Dr. Schneider. Five 
specimens in the Klose collection are well preserved: No. 11044 
(K7944) is a large fore wing of an archimylacrid, 50 mm. long, 
collected at Oneida, roof of Mammoth anthracite, Pennsylvania; 
