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But the Xiphosura have such close morphological relations with the Arachnida, and especially with the oldest known Arachnidan, Scorpio, that I cannot doubt the existence of a genetic connection between the two groups. On the other hand, the Branchiopoda do, even at the present day, almost pass into the true Podophthalmia, by Nebalia.
The Crabs and Macrurous Crustacea, the Stomapoda, the Diastylidae, the Amphipoda and Isopoda, the Ostracoda and Daphnidae, the Copepoda and Parasita, the Cirripedes and Rhizocephala of our coast, representing the class of Crustacea with the deficiency only of the Phyllopoda and Xiphosura, furnished a long and varied, and at the same time intimately connected series, such as was at my command in no other class.
The Copepoda, the Ostracoda, and the Branchiopoda are the Crustacea which have departed least from the embryonic or Nauplius-forms; and, of these, I imagine that the Copepoda represent the hypothetical Archicarida most closely. Apus and Sapphirina indicate the relations of these Archaeocarids with the Trilobita, and the Eurypterida connect the Trilobita and the Copepoda with the Xiphosura.
This extraordinary crustacean is one of the oldest of living animals in its history, as it is closely related to the Xiphosura and even the Trilobites of the Primary Epoch, which existed millions of years ago. These Massachusetts "Indians" described to Champlain a wonderful bird which at some seasons of the year they caught in snares and ate.
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