Note 231 — Chapter XI · ARACHNIDA (CONTINUED)—DELOBRANCHIATA = MEROSTOMATA (CONTINUED)—EURYPTERIDA

It was this ornamentation found on fragments of Pterygotus anglicus which led the Scotch quarrymen to apply the name “Seraphim” to that Eurypterid. On this subject Hugh Miller writes: “The workmen in the quarries in which they occur, finding form without body, and struck by the resemblance which the delicately waved scales bear to the sculptured markings on the wings of cherubs—of all subjects of the chisel the most common—fancifully termed them ‘Seraphim’” (The Old Red Sandstone, ed. 6, 1855, p. 180).