Of the Decapoda the geological history is tolerably full, and it is possible to trace in its broad outlines the course of evolution of the various suborders. Here again it is likely that the beginnings of the group are to be sought for in the Carboniferous epoch, and some of the obscure shrimp-like forms of that age show hints of an affinity with the Decapods. In the Triassic epoch, however, and more abundantly in the succeeding Jurassic, a number of types are found which seem to include primitive representatives of several of the existing groups of Natantia and Reptantia. It is noteworthy that among them are some forms (_Æger_, etc.) resembling the existing Stenopidea, a tribe which in some respects is intermediate between these two suborders. In the Stenopidea the first three pairs of legs bear pincer-claws, as in the Lobster, but the third pair is much the largest; and _Æger_ agrees with them in this unusual character, though there is little else, in what is known of its structure, to help to determine its affinities. The tribe Penæidea, which occupies in many respects a primitive place among the Natantia, is abundantly represented in the Jurassic epoch, especially in the lithographic stone (Upper Jurassic) of Solenhofen, and by somewhat doubtful specimens from the earlier Trias. All these agree in having the first three pairs of legs with pincer-claws, and not differing greatly in size. Some of the Jurassic and later fossils are of so modern a type that they have been referred to the existing genus _Penæus_. The Upper Jurassic rocks also preserve the earliest undoubted specimens of true Prawns of the tribe Caridea, and some of these show swimming branches (exopodites) on the thoracic legs, so that they were probably related to the primitive family Acanthephyridæ, of which the existing members are found in the deep sea. It is possible, however, that Caridea were already in existence far earlier, for some of the obscure Carboniferous forms seem to have the broadened side-plates of the second abdominal somite, which, so far as we know, are exclusively characteristic of that tribe.