Ancient Myriapods. 95 



the extraordinary nature of these remains that their study 

 quite revolutionized the classification of the Myriapods. 



In 18*71, H. Woodward discovered a Myriapod (Eupho- 

 beria) in the English Coal Measures, and a few years later 

 (1878) P. L. Bertkau one in the Brown Coal of Kott, near 

 Bonn, Miocene in age. 



In 1882, B. N. Peach carried back a knowledge of these 

 creatures to the Devonian, describing two forms from the 

 old red Sandstone of Forfarshire, in Scotland. 



In 1886, Dr. Scudder issued a systematic review of the 

 Insects, Myriapods and Arachnids which remains to-day the 

 most systematic and philosophical grouping of the Insectea. 

 He has since made some important changes however, as for 

 instance in recognizing Chilopods among the Carboniferous 

 Myriapods. 



The insect faunas of the Tertiary deposits are notably 

 poor in remains of Myriapods. Prof. Oswald Heer, in 

 1862, described the Insect Fauna of (Eningen, in Bavaria, 

 finding no less than 844 species of insects chiefly beetles, 

 and almost all of living families. But, as quoted by Ly ell, 

 he does not mention the occurrence of a single Myriapod. 

 Kev. P. B. Brodie described no less than 24 families of in- 

 sects from the Lower Lias, Great Britain, but Myriapods 

 are equally wanting there. 



For ten years (1881-1890), Dr. Scudder was at work on 

 the Insect Fauna of the Tertiary lake basin of Florissant 

 and other localities of Western North America. His re- 

 sults were published by the U. S. Geological Survey and 

 fill a large quarto volume with 28 plates, representing this 

 extensive series of fossils. 



The remarkable richness of the Florissant fauna may be 

 inferred from Dr. Scudder's statement that in one summer 

 about 10,000 specimens were collected from these beds ; 

 whereas it had taken Heer thirty years to gather the 5,000 

 specimens from (Eningen, on which he founded his de- 

 scriptions. Yet from all the material gathered at Lake 

 Florissant, Dr. Scudder has figured only one broken ex- 

 ample of a Myriapod. 



