Tertiary Spiders and Opiliouids. 255 



Chelicerae without boss at base Tetragnathinse 



Chelicerse with a boss at base 



Lip longer than wide NephiUnse 



Lip wide and short Epeirinae 



SUB-FAMILY TETRAGXATHIN^E. 



Genus Palaeometa, new. 

 Presumably witli the characters of the sub-family, but with 

 eyes on a transversely oval elevation. Genotype: P. opcrtanea. 



Palaeometa opertanea (Scudder). 



= Thcridiuiii opcrtancnm Scudder, Tertiary Insects, 1890, p. 73. 



Plate II. fig. 3 ( ? ) . 



One female from Florissant. No. 13521 (now No. 86) in the 

 Collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard 

 University. 



The specimen is imperfectly preserved and inadequately 

 described by Scudder. Total length 11 mm. Carapace 5.0 mm. 

 long, 2.2 mm. wide, abdomen 6.4 mm. long, almost globular. 

 The legs are slender, imperfectly preserved. The third and fourth 

 leg of the left side appear superimposed over the abdomen, the 

 tip of the fourth leg protruding beyond the abdomen and at the 

 first glance simulating a spinneret. However, it is not difficult 

 to trace the leg on the surface of the abdomen owing to the 

 arrangement of the hair which presents a dififerent direction from 

 that of the hair covering the abdomen, as the leg lies at an angle 

 to the main axis of tl^e spider. There are distinct spines on the 

 first and second pair of legs, giving them an appearance entirely 

 different from that of recent Theridiids. Moreover there is no 

 trace of a comb on the fourth tarsus. This makes the retention 

 of the species in the genus to which Scudder referred it impossi- 

 ble. The proportion of the femora indicates the probable pro- 

 portion of the legs and is as given by Scudder : first femur — 

 6.0 mm., second — 5.0 mm., third — 2.0 mm., fourth — 3.25 mm. 



The carapace shows a large transversely oval area which has 

 the shape of a depression in the rock and which therefore repre- 

 sented an elevation in life. It seems probable that this represents 

 the entire eyegroup, but the individual eyes cannot be made out. 

 No other structures are discernible. 



