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
Oehlert (1896) gave an excellent summary in French of the work of
Beecher and Walcott on _Triarthrus_, with reproductions of many of
their figures.
Valiant (1901) in a non-technical article described his long search
for trilobites with antennas. The discovery of the wonderful pyritized
trilobites at Cleveland's Glen near Rome was not the result of a lucky
accident, but the culmination of eight years of labor in a locality
especially selected on account of the fineness of grain of the shale.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--_Triarthrus becki_ Green. A new restoration,
modified from Professor Beecher's, to incorporate the results of his
later work. The inner ends of the endobases are probably too far
apart, as it was not discovered until after the drawing had been made
that the appendifers projected within the dorsal furrows. Drawn by
Doctor Elvira Wood. × about 3.8.]
After 1896, Professor Beecher turned his attention largely to the
problem of the classification of trilobites, and while he continued
the arduous task of cleaning the matrix from specimens of
_Triarthrus_ and _Cryptolithus_ he did not again publish upon the
subject of appendages until forced to do so by the doubts cast by
Jaekel (1901) upon the validity of his earlier conclusions. Because of
certain structures which he thought he had interpreted correctly from
a poorly preserved specimen of _Ptychoparia_, Jaekel came to the
conclusion that Beecher's material was not well preserved. Professor
Beecher would have taken much more kindly to aspersions upon his
opinions than to any slight upon his beloved trilobites, and his
article on the "Ventral Integument of Trilobites" of 1902 was designed
not only as an answer to Jaekel, but also to show by means of
photographs the unusually perfect state of preservation of the
specimens of _Triarthrus_. This article, like so many describing the
appendages of trilobites, beginning with Matthew's, was published in
two places (Beecher 1902).
Most of Beecher's papers, except the last one, were reprinted in
the volume entitled "Studies in Evolution," published by Charles
Scribner's Sons at the time of the Yale Bicentennial in 1901. The
part pertaining particularly to _Triarthrus_ is on pages 197 to 219.
Moberg (1907), in connection with a specimen of _Eurycare angustatum_
which he thought preserved some appendages, described and illustrated
some of the appendages of _Triarthrus_.
The most recent discussion of _Triarthrus_, with some new figures,
is by Walcott (1918, p. 135, pls. 29, 30). He gives a summary of
Beecher's work with numerous quotations. The principal original
contribution is a discussion of the form and shape of the appendages
before they were flattened out in the shale. He found also what
he thought might possibly be the remains of epipodites on three
specimens, one of which he illustrated with a photograph. I have seen
nothing which could be interpreted as such an organ in the many
specimens I have studied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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