. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. MAY-FLIES 443 Palaeozoic period, remains are found that appear to be akin to our existing Ephemeridae. Palingenia feistmantelii from the of Bohemia is actually referred to a still existing genus; it is said to have been of gigantic size for a may-fly. The families ]\Iegasecopterides, Platypterides, and Stenodicty- opterides of the Carboniferous epoch (see p. 343) are all more or less closely allied to the Ephemeridae, and in addition to these Brongniart has established the family Protephemerides for some Insects that he considers to have
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. MAY-FLIES 443 Palaeozoic period, remains are found that appear to be akin to our existing Ephemeridae. Palingenia feistmantelii from the of Bohemia is actually referred to a still existing genus; it is said to have been of gigantic size for a may-fly. The families ]\Iegasecopterides, Platypterides, and Stenodicty- opterides of the Carboniferous epoch (see p. 343) are all more or less closely allied to the Ephemeridae, and in addition to these Brongniart has established the family Protephemerides for some Insects that he considers to have been the precursors in the Carboniferous epoch of our existing may-flies. These ancient Insects differed in having the wings of another form from those of exist- ing Ephemeridae, and in having the hind wings equal in size to the front pair. Besides this, these Insects had, as shown in Pig. 285, prothoracic dorsal appendages; some had also projections from the abdominal segments, considered by Brongniart to be of the nature of gills. Some doubt must exist as to this point, for we find in the imago of one of our existing Ephemeridae, Oniscigaster wakefieldi, Pig. 284, abdominal processes that are not gills. It is remarkable that may- flies, which now form a com- paratively unimportant part of the Insect tribe, should in far distant times have been represented j,jo_ 2&t,.—HomaUneura Unnieri; Car- by so great a variety of allied forms. Our fragile, short-lived may-flies appear to be, as Scudder says, the lingering fragments of an expiring boniferous of Conimentry. Brongniart.) (After. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Harmer, S. F. (Sidney Frederic), Sir, 1862- ed; Shipley, A. E. (Arthur Everett), Sir, 1861-1927. ed. [London, Macmillan and Co. , Limited; New York, The Macmillan Compa
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
