ON THE ANASPIDACEA, LIVING AND FOSSIL. 4935 
related by certain characters—e. ¢. filiform spermatozoa and 
the structure of the heart—to the Peracarida, and by others 
to the Decapoda, a conclusion which has been subsequently 
confirmed. ‘The composite character of the Anaspidacea, 
which seem to be constructed by uniting characteristics 
taken from the other divisions of the Malacostraca, appeared 
to me to point to the extremely primitive nature of the group, 
and to confirm Calman’s opinion that they should be 
separated from the other Malacostracan divisions as a dis- 
crete group, the Syncarida. 
In the September number of the ‘Geological Magazine’ for 
1908, Dr. Henry Woodward (18) describes for the first time 
some specimens of a fossil crustacean from the Coal-measures 
near Ilkeston, Derbyshire, which must be considered as the 
most perfectly preserved specimens of fossil Syncarida that 
have as yet been found. Dr. Woodward names them 
Preanaspides precursor, and there can be no doubt 
that they represent an exceedingly close ally of the lving 
Anaspidacea. ‘The details of segmentation, of the form of 
the limbs, and the general posture of the body in Pre- 
anaspides are exactly reproduced in the living Anaspides 
or Koonunga, and we are amply justified in placing this 
ancient palzozoic fossil together with the living genera in 
the same order or even in a nearer relationship (text-fig. 3). 
Our knowledge therefore of this interesting group of 
primitive Crustacea is beginning to take definite shape, and 
since in the future it must always hold a prominent position 
in Crustacean morphology and classification, it is, perhaps, 
timely to bring together all we know about these animals in 
a systematic form, and to attempt to determine their place 
in classification, and the light which they throw upon the 
evolution of the higher Crustacea. 
Before leaving the historical aspect of our subject, 
reference must be made to Professor Fritsch’s views upon 
the affinities of the fossils which he has described (17), from 
the carboniferous strata of Bohemia. In his admirable 
memoir he describes a fossil Malacostracan, Gasocaris 
