A Pictorial Atlas of Fossil Remains, consisting of coloured illustrations selected from Parkinson's "Organic remains of a former world," and Artis's "Antediluvian phytology."

by Gideon Algernon Mantell

Fig. 5. "Impression of an unknown fossil."—Mr. Parkinson.

Fig. 6. "The claw of a Crab, from Maestricht, &c."—Mr. Parkinson. Claws of this kind are frequent in the soft sandy limestone of St. Peter's Mountain, but no other vestiges of the Crabs to which they belonged have been met with. The cause of this has been ascertained: the claws belong to a species of Hermit Crab (Pagurus Faujasii, of Desmarest), which like the living species had the body covered by a delicate membrane, the claws only possessing a durable crustaceous shell.[64]

[64] Wonders of Geology, p. 338.

Fig. 7. "An extended trilobite, from Dudley."—Mr. Parkinson. Among the organic remains of the inhabitants of the seas, in whose abysses were formed the Silurian, Devonian, and other ancient sedimentary strata, an extinct family of crustaceans, comprising numerous genera, are among the most characteristic and remarkable. The name "Trilobite," first given by Mr. Parkinson, expresses the most obvious character of the longitudinally trilobed, convex, segmented, carapace of the body, of the most common forms; but so great is the number of species, and so dissimilar the groups, now known, that the nomenclature of this class of fossils is greatly extended. In Sir R. I. Murchison's splendid work on the Silurian System, the genera and species of the formations therein comprised are beautifully illustrated. The specimen figured is an expanded specimen of the species commonly known as the Dudley Locust or Insect, (Calymene Blumenbachii), from the Wenlock limestone, Dudley.

Fig. 8. A coiled-up specimen; in this view are seen both ends of the crustaceous covering of the animal: a, "the eye enlarged."

Fig. 9, is part of the head of the same species.

Fig. 10. "A fossil Crab from the East Indies."—Mr. Parkinson. Beautiful specimens of this species of Crab (Gonoplax Latreilli, of Mr. Edwards) have been obtained from the tertiary strata of India.

Fig. 11. Another form of Trilobite (Ogygia Buchii, (Asaphus,) of the Silurian System), from the Llandeilo flagstones.

Fig. 12. "Remains of some large unknown insect."—Mr. Parkinson. This figure is not sufficiently defined to admit of interpretation.

Fig. 13, "Part of a trilobite with tuberculated head," (Calymene variolare,) from the Wenlock limestone, of Dudley.