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
A single individual of _Acidaspis trentonensis_, obtained from the
same locality and horizon as the specimens of _Triarthrus_ and
_Cryptolithus_, when cleaned from the ventral side shows a number
of poorly preserved endopodites which seem very similar in shape and
position to those of _Triarthrus_. One endopodite on the right side
of the head and the first five on the right side of the thorax are the
best shown. All are slender, are directed first forward at an angle of
about 45 with the axis, then, except in the case of the cephalic
appendage, turn backward on a gentle curve and extend a little
distance beyond the margin of the test, but not as far as the tips of
the lateral spines of the thoracic segments.
The individual segments of the endopodites can not be seen clearly
enough to make any measurements. On the fourth and fifth endopodites
of the thorax, some of the segments seem to be broad and triangular as
in _Triarthrus_. All that can be seen indicates that _Acidaspis_ had
appendages entirely similar to those of _Triarthrus_, but perhaps not
quite so long, as they seem not to have projected beyond the limits of
the lateral spines. There are no traces of antennules nor,
unfortunately, of exopodites.
_Measurements:_ Length 8 mm.
Walcott (1881, p. 206) stated that his sections had shown the presence
in this species of legs "both cephalic and thoracic" and also the
"spiral branchiæ." His specimens were from the Trenton at Trenton
Falls, New York.
The Appendages of Cryptolithus.
=Cryptolithus tessellatus= Green.
(pl. 6, fig. 7; pls. 7-9; text figs. 20, 25, 45, 46.)
(See also Part IV.)
Illustrated: Beecher, Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. 49, 1895, pl. 3.
When Professor Beecher wrote his short article on the "Structure
and Appendages of _Trinucleus_" (1895), he had only three specimens
showing appendages. In his later work he cleaned several more, so that
there are now thirteen specimens of _Trinucleus_ = _Cryptolithus_
available for study, though some of these do not show much detail. In
his last and unpublished study, Beecher devoted the major part of his
attention to this genus, and summarized his findings in the drawings
which he himself made of the best individuals (text figs. 45, 46).
Valiant (1901) stated that he had found a _Trinucleus_ with antennæ in
the Frankfort shale south of Rome, New York. The specimen has not been
figured.
None of the specimens shows much more of the appendages of the
cephalon than, the hypostoma and the antennules, so that we are still
in ignorance about the mouth parts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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