The group of the Crabs
or "Short-tailed" Decapods (_Brachyura_), in which the abdomen
is short, not terminated by a tail-fin, and tucked away out of
sight beneath the body, is at present not known to be represented
at all in the Carboniferous deposits.
[Illustration: Fig. 123.--_Cyclophthalmus senior_. A fossil Scorpion
from the Coal-measures of Bohemia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 124.--_Xylobius Sigillarioe_, a Carboniferous
Myriapod. a, A specimen, of the natural size; b, Anterior
portion of the same, enlarged; c, Posterior portion, enlarged.
From the Coal-measures of Nova Scotia. (After Dawson.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 125--_Haplophlebium Barnesi_, a Carboniferous
insect, from the Coal-meastures of Nova Scotia. (After Dawson.)]
In addition to the water-inhabiting group of the Crustaceans, we
find the articulate animals to be represented by members belonging
to the air-breathing classes of the _Arachnida, Myriapoda_, and
_Insecta_. The remains of these, as might have been expected, are
not known to occur in the marine limestones of the Carboniferous
series, but are exclusively found in beds associated with the Coal,
which have been deposited in lagoons, estuaries, or marshes, in
the immediate vicinity of the land, and which actually represent
an old land-surface. The _Arachnids_ are at present the oldest
known of their class, and are represented both by true Spiders
and Scorpions.
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