456 



AMERICAN SPIDEKS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



telarife. I insert a fac simile copy of the figure published by Professor 

 Beecher (Fig. 381), representing a dorsal view of the fossil, and (Fig. 382) 

 a bare outline when viewed directly in front. From the figure and profile 

 it is seen that all the limits of the spider are in nearly their natural posi- 

 tion, having undergone but slight displacement and decay, while its per- 

 fection indicates that it is not a shed skin which is preserved, but that 

 the actual animal was entombed. It throws an interesting side light upon 

 the life habits of this creature, to learn that in the same concretion which 

 contains the fossil are fragments of the broad leaves of a rush like plant 

 which, as Professor Beecher thinks, proliably furnished a float by whiclj 

 the spider was carried out from land, so that its remains are found min- 

 gled in the same bed with marine organisms. 



In this connection I may call attention to another fossil spider which 

 has been supposed also to belong to the Territelariaj. While visiting the 



British Museum of Natural History at South 

 Kensington, London, in the summer of 1887, 

 my attention was called to some fossil spiders 

 by Dr. Henry Woodward, Keeper of the Geo- 

 logical Department. Among these I observed 

 one which seemed new to science, and closely 

 related to the genus Atypus. After my return 

 to America, Dr. Woodward sent me casts both 

 in wax and plaster, from which a description 

 of the species was made, and the name Eo- 



Fre. 383. 



Flc. 384. 



Fir:. 383. Fossil spider Eoatypus wood- 



wardii McCook. Dorsal view. X 3. 



atypus woodwardii suggested, i The fossil is 

 simply an impression in the shale, which, how- 

 ever, is tolerably well preserved, but exliibits 

 few features necessary to classification. The 

 eyes are not defined, and nothing but a little 

 roughened elevation in the centre of the caput, 

 which may or may not be an organic cast. 

 Fig. 384. EoatsTJus woodwardii. Side giyes any suggcstiou of the eye space. As far 



as it goes, this appears to follow the charac- 

 teristics of Atypus and the Territelarise generally. The appearance of the 

 mandibles also suggests this relation, and the general facies of the fossil is 

 to the same effect. The drawings have been made from a plaster cast. 

 Fig. 383 representing the dorsal view, and Fig. 384 the same in" outline, 

 both magnified three times natural size.^ 



' Proe. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1S8S, page 200, for full description of the species. 



- I hesitated much a.s to whether this fossil should be assigned to the Lycosidre, the 

 .\ttidte, or to Atypinse. On the whole, I decided, though not positively, as above, and on 

 the above named grounds. It seemed impossible, in the absence of the characteristic eyes 

 and long jointed superior spinners to relegate the species positively to the genus Atypus. 

 Besides expressing the general facies of the fossil as above described, the generic vahie of 

 the name Eoatyjjus consists largely in assigning the specimen rank as a fossil spider. 



