The Appendages, Anatomy, and Relationships of TrilobitesRaymond, Percy E. (Percy Edward)
Science
The Appendages, Anatomy, and Relationships of Trilobites
Raymond, Percy E. (Percy Edward)
Trilobites
2, fig. 20.
Historical.
Specimens of _Triarthrus_ retaining appendages were first obtained by
Mr. W. S. Valiant from the dark carbonaceous Utica shale near Rome,
New York, in 1884, but no considerable amount of material was found
until 1892. The first specimens were sent to Columbia University, and
were described by Doctor W. D. Matthew (1893). This article was
accompanied by a plate of sketches, showing for the first time the
presence of antennules in trilobites and indicating something of the
endopodites and exopodites of the appendages of the cephalon, thorax,
and pygidium. Specimens had not yet been cleaned from the lower side,
so that no great amount could then be learned of the detailed
structure. Matthew concluded that "The homology with _Limulus_ seems
not to be as close in _Triarthrus_ as in the forms studied by Mr.
Walcott; but the characters seem to be of a more comprehensive type,
approaching the general structure of the other Crustacea rather than
any special form."
Professor Beecher's first paper, dated October 9, 1893, merely
mentioned the fact that the Yale University Museum had obtained
material from Valiant's locality, but was quickly followed by a paper
read before the National Academy of Sciences on November 8, and
published in December, 1893. This paper described particularly the
thoracic appendages.
This was followed in January (1894 A) by an article in which some
information about the mode of occurrence of the specimens was added,
and in April (1894 B), the limbs of the pygidium were described and
figured. The determination of the structure of the appendages of the
head evidently presented some difficulty, for the article describing
this portion of the animal did not appear until the next February
(1895 A). This cleared up the ventral anatomy of _Triarthrus_, and was
followed by a short article (1896 A) accompanied by a restoration of
the trilobite showing all the appendages.
This ended Professor Beecher's publications on _Triarthrus_ until his
final paper in 1902, although he contributed some of his results and
figures to his chapter on the trilobites in the Eastman-Zittel
Text-book of Paleontology in 1900.
The discovery of these excellent specimens had of course excited very
great interest. Doctor Walcott also studied a number of specimens from
Valiant's locality, and published in 1894, with some original figures,
the results of his comparison of the appendages of _Triarthrus_ with
those of _Calymene_ and _Ceraurus_.
In his article on the "Systematic Position of the Trilobites," Bernard
(1894) used the results of Professor Beecher's studies of 1893, and
also quoted the papers by Matthew (1893) and Walcott (1894), though
the article by the latter appeared too late to be used except for a
note added while Bernard's paper was in press. A final footnote quoted
from Professor Beecher's paper of April, 1894 (1894 B).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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