Curiosities of Science, Past and Present / A Book for Old and Young

by John Timbs

THE TRILOBITE.

Among the earliest races we have those remarkable forms, the Trilobites, inhabiting the ancient ocean. These crustacea remotely resemble the common wood-louse, and like that animal they had the power of rolling themselves into a ball when attacked by an enemy. The eye of the trilobite is a most remarkable organ; and in that of one species, Phacops caudatus, not less than 250 lenses have been discovered. This remarkable optical instrument indicates that these creatures lived under similar conditions to those which surround the crustacea of the present day.—Hunt’s Poetry of Science.