Scolopendridae. One species in amber, several species in later Tertiary formations.
Geophilidae. Three species in amber.
Two species resembling the Schizotarsia of the present day have been found in amber.
Order III. Archipolypoda.
The most numerous of the fossil families. With a few exceptions, all the Palaeozoic (that is, the oldest) Myriapods belong to this Order. The Carboniferous Archipolypoda seem to be much more numerous in the coal of America than in that of England. They resemble for the most part the Myriapods of the present day, except that all the segments without exception bear legs.
The families are three in number.
Family 1. Archidesmidae.
Resemble the Polydesmidae of the present day. Two species have been found by Page in the Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire. He named them Kampecaris. One found by Peach in the same formation is called Archidesmus.
Family 2. Euphoberiidae.
They show some resemblance to the Julidae of the present day, but the dorsal scutes, or plates of the back, are more or less perfectly divided into two divisions corresponding with the pairs of legs. The following are the principal fossils of this family:—