1116 Marvels of the Universe 
availed ourselves of this knowledge when hunting for marine life, and done part of our collecting 
from the Thornbacks thrown out of the crab-pots by the fishermen, who set no store upon this crab, 
as it is not marketable. On one occasion we took no fewer than half a dozen specimens of the 
Snake-locked Anemone from the shell of one half-grown Thornback. It is true that in this case 
there is no evidence of friendship between the two animals. The crab has simply placed the 
anemone on its shell for its own private ends, and the anemone appears to regard its perambu- 
latory base as being quite as good, probably better, than a fixed rock. 
NEWTS OF THE PAST 
THE Newts and Salamanders of the present 
day, with their near relations, the Frogs and 
Toads, form a comparatively small class of 
animal life; but there was a time in the 
history of the globe when they were far 
more numerous than they are. Only a few 
pages back we have shown the stages by 
which the modern frog progresses from a fish- 
like, water-breathing creature (the tadpole) 
to a reptile-like, air-breathing one. What 
we may all witness every spring in almost 
every pond is a repetition in brief of the 
evolutionary changes that went on through 
the Carboniferous and Permian periods by 
which a higher type was produced from the 
fishes. That was the day of the Newt 
family, but, later on, the true reptiles ap- 
_ peared, and the Newts began to lose import- 
ance in competition with the better equipped, 
scale-armoured reptiles. Sir Richard Owen 
bestowed the name of Labyrinthodonts 
upon some of these ancient Newts, because 
ATRIA Comerarae of the minute structure of the teeth as seen 
EGG-COCOONS OF SPIDERS. under the microscope—the so-called cement 
HOURS i GE co ce af tho tain bey fiided in a comple: 
right.is that of Ero. manner suggesting the turns of a labyrinth. 
Our illustration includes five different species about a pool in the coal forest. The largest and 
central member of the group is Archegosaurus, of which we also give a view of the forepart of a 
fossil skeleton found in the Permian at Saarbriicken. In the hinder-part of the skull will be seen 
the aperture or socket of the middle eye, referred to in our account of the Tuatera Lizard (page 916). 
Ceraterpeton, on the rock in the foreground, looks much like a modern newt with a very long 
tail—longer than its body. Dolichosoma resembles a snake far more than a newt, but, neverthe- 
less, its organization places it among the amphibious scaleless Salamander tribe. Loxomma is 
shown with its head protruding from the shelter of a fern-like plant of the Coal period. The restoring 
artist has been discreet in this matter, for the very good reason that only its head is known in a 
fossil state at present. Someday no doubt the trunk and limbs will be discovered by some getter 
of coal. Actinodon there can be no doubt about, for a fairly complete skeleton—lacking only the 
right fore-limb—is in existence. It is rather short and thick, and the short, wide skull has a 
broad muzzle. 
