The Red Coral (_Corallium_), so largely sought after as an
ornamental material, appears for the first time in deposits of
this age. Amongst the _Echinoderms_, we meet with Heart-Urchins
(_Spatangus_), Cake-Urchins (_Scutella_; fig. 238), and various
other forms, the majority of which are closely allied to forms
now in existence.
[Illustration: Fig. 237.--_Textularia Meyeriana_, greatly enlarged.
Miocene Tertiary.]
Numerous Crabs and Lobsters represent the _Crustacea_; but the most
important of the Miocene Articulate Animals are the _Insects_. Of
these, more than thirteen hundred species have been determined by
Dr Heer from the Miocene strata of Switzerland alone. They include
almost all the existing orders of insects, such as numerous and
varied forms of Beetles (_Coleoptera_), Forest-bugs (_Hemiptera_),
Ants (_Hymenoptera_), Flies (_Diptera_), Termites and Dragon-flies
(_Neuroptera_), Grasshoppers (_Orthoptera_), and Butterflies
(_Lepidoptera_). One of the latter, the well-known _Vanessa Pluto_
of the Brown Coals of Croatia, even exhibits the pattern of the
wing, and to some extent its original coloration; whilst the more
durably-constructed insects are often in a state of exquisite
preservation.
[Illustration: Fig. 238.--Different views of _Scutella subrotunda_,
a Miocene "Cake-Urchin" from the south of France.
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