AGE OF FISHJES. 



205 



were singular in their formation, combining in one ani- 

 mal the qualities of various kinds of animals. " King- 

 crab-like," says Page, " in their carapace and organs of 

 mastication, lobster-like in their prolonged and segment- 

 ed bodies, furnished with broad, paddle-like swimming 

 limbs, and frequently with huge prehensile claws, they 

 present the zoologist with an entirely distinct family, if 

 not with the elements of a new and separate legion. 

 Some of the species are of great size three, four, and 

 six feet in length and seem to have been the scaven- 

 gers of their period, living on the lower forms and garb- 

 age of the sea-shore." One of these is pictured in Fig. 

 115, lying on his back. In the same rocks in which are 



Fig. 115. 



the remains of these Crustaceans there are found patches 

 of spawn-like 'appearance, which, though they have been 

 supposed by some to be berries of some plant, are now 

 generally regarded as the egg-packets of these animals. 

 The eggs are flattened, and they have more or less of a 

 concentric arrangement, as seen in Fig. 116 (p. 206). 



299. Fishes. That you may understand the record 

 which these animals have made of themselves in the 

 rocks of this and other ages also, I will here notice the 



