SEA-SCORPIONS. 26 
day—lobsters, crabs, and shrimps, so welcome on the tables of both 
rich and poor. Some naturalists say that their nearest relations 
at the present day are the king-crabs inhabiting the China seas and 
the east coast of North America; and there certainly are some 
points of resemblance between them. Others say that they are 
related to scorpions, and for this reason we call them Sea- 
scorpions, (See Plate I.) 
The first feature we notice in these creatures is the way in 
which their bodies and limbs are divided into rings or joints. 
This fact tells us that they belong to that great division of animals 
called “ Articulates,” of which crabs, lobsters, spiders, centipedes, 
and insects are examples. The celebrated Linnzus called them 
all insects, because their bodies are in this way cut into divisions.* 
But this arrangement has since been abandoned. However, they 
are all built upon this simple plan, their bodies being like a series 
of rings, to which,are attached paired appendages or limbs, also 
composed of ae.. longer and some shorter. Now, there must 
be something very fitting and appropriate in this arrangement, 
for the creatures that are thus built up are far more numerous 
than any other group of animals. They must be particularly well 
qualified to fight the battle of life; for like a victorious army 
they have taken the world by storm, and still remain in possession. 
We find them everywhere—in seas, rivers, and lakes; in fields 
and forests; in the soil, and in all sorts of nooks and crannies ; 
in the air, and even upon or inside the bodies of other animals. 
Some of them, such as ants, bees, and wasps, show an intelligence 
that is simply marvellous, and have acquired social habits which 
excite our admiration. 
Articulate animals are a very ancient race, as well as a flourish- 
ing one, for the oldest rocks containing undoubted fossils—namely, 
certain slates found in Wales and the Lake District—tell us of a 
time when shallow seas swarmed with little articulate animals 
known as Zvilobites. ‘They were in appearance something like 
1 Lat. zz, into, and seca, cut. 
