Contributions to the Knowledge of Fossil Crustacea

Abstract

I. On a fossil Squilla from the London Clay of Highgate — part of the “Wetherell Collection” in the British Museum . (Plate XXVI. fig. 1.), The Stomapoda (as restricted by Prof. Huxley, and) represented at the present day by Squilla , Pseudosquilla , Gonodactylus , and Coronis , are not only interesting from tho fact that they differ widely in many important points of structure from all other Crustacea; but, from their extensive distribution over the seas of the globe, they bear evidence of high antiquity, and justly challenge the attention of the palæontologist. Two causes, however, may probably assist in explaining the rare occurrence of Squilla in a fossil state :—first, the thinness of its test, which would render it less likely to be preserved ; and, secondly, the fact that Squilla lives in, comparatively speaking, deep water, and prefers clear water undisturbed by sedimentary deposits. Fossil Squillæ have been described by Münster, in 1839, from the lithographic stone of Solenhofen, Bavaria, under the name of Sculda pennata (Beitriäge, vol. iii. t. 4. fig. 4), and by the same author from the Eocene of :Monte Bolca, near Verona, Italy, under the name of Squilla antiqua (Beiträige, vol. v. t. 9. f. 11). The British Museum possesses very perfect specimens of Squilla from the lithographic stone of Solenhofen (part of the late Dr.Häberlein's collection, see Plate XXVI. fig. 5); but I have not seen the fossil Squilla from Monte Bolca, and, although the figure given by Münster is sufficient to prove it to be a veritable