﻿EURYPTERUS SCOULERI. 133 



The remains of a British species of Eurypterus, which probably measured nearly two 

 feet in length, were discovered in the Freshwater Limestone of Carboniferous age, at 

 Burdie House, near Edinburgh, and recorded by Dr. John Scouler, of Glasgow, in 'Cheek's 

 Edinburgh Journal' (vol. iii), 1831, under the generic name of Eidothea. 



In 1836, Dr. S.Hibbert figured four specimens of this Burdie House Crustacean, and 

 referred them to Eurypterus, under the name of E. Scoideri} 



Dr. Harlan, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Vanuxem, and Prof. James Hall, in America ; Fischer de 

 Waldheim, Edward von Eichwald, and Dr. J. Nieszkowski, in Russia ; Prof. Reuss, Dr. 

 Jordan, and H. von Meyer, in Germany; and Mr. J. W. Salter, in England, have all con- 

 tributed to the bibliography of this genus. 



Both the Russian and American species of Eurypterus are well preserved, and have 

 been carefully figured. 



But the most instructive and elaborate description and figures of this genus are 

 to be found in the 'Palaeontology of New York' (vol. iii, 1859), by Prof. James Hall, 

 of Albany. 



The figures on the preceding page are copied from his work, and convey the clearest 

 idea of the details of the organs and form of the body-segments in this genus which 

 have yet been produced. They will prove of the greatest service in elucidating the less 

 perfect and often very fragmentary remains which occur in our own rocks. 



As elsewhere shown in the Tables of the Geographical and Geological Distribution of 

 the Merostomata (see Part I, pp. 11 — 19), there is in this, as in all other fossil genera, 

 the same relative distribution in time and space. 



Thus we find Eurypterus represented in time from the Lower Ludlow ( U. Silurian) to 

 the Lower Carboniferous — the greatest longevity attained by any of the Eurypterida ; 

 whilst in space they extend from the United States and Canada to England, and so on to 

 Oesel and Gotland, Poland, Russia, Bohemia, and Rhenish Prussia. 



About 23 species are known belonging to this genus, 17 of which occur in the Upper 

 Silurian, the rest are found in the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks (see p. 19). 



Species 1.— EURYPTERUS SCOULERI :— Hibbert, 1836. Pis. XXV— XXVII. 



Eidothea, Scouler, 1831. Cheek's Edinb. Journ. of Nat. and Geogr. Sc, new ser., No. vi, 



June, 1831, pi. x, p. 352. 

 Eurypterus Scouleri, Hibbert. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 1836, vol. xiii, part i, p. 280, 



pi. xii. 



— — lb. Salter, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 1863, vol. xix, p. 82. 



— — lb. Page's Advanced Text-Book of Geology, 1859, 2nd edition, 



p. 189 (with a woodcut). 



The Council of the Andersonian Institution have kindly granted me permission to 

 1 ' Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh,' vol. xiii, p. 280, pi. xii. 



