36 TERRESTRIAL CARBONIFEROUS ARACHNIDA. 



Suborder OPISTHOTHEL^E. 



Genus ARCHiEOMETA, no v. 



Generic Characters. — Resembling in general form such recent genera as Nephila 

 and Tetragnatha, and possibly, like these, belonging to the family Argyopida?. Cara- 

 pace apparently cordate, narrowed in front. Legs very long and slender, probably 

 2, 4, 3, 1 in order of length judging by the length of the femora, though possibly 

 those of the first pair exceeded those of the third by reason of the probably greater 

 length of their terminal segments. The legs of the first and second pairs in most 

 recent Araneas (Spiders) are subequal in length, but in this Carboniferous genus those 

 of the second pair greatly exceed those of the first. Femur of third longer than of 

 first, femur of fourth a little longer than that of second. Abdomen long, apparently 

 rather longer than femur of fourth leg, but its exact length a little doubtful owing 



Fig. 11. — Archssometa nephilina, gen. et sp. n. ; restoration of the ventral surface, showing the legs as far 

 as the distal end of the femora and the probable form of the opisthosoma, about two and a half times 

 nat. size. — Coal Measures; Coseley, near Dudley. W. Egginton Collection. 



to the want of definition of its posterior end ; subcylindrical in shape, a little 

 narrowed posteriorly, ovally convex apparently anteriorly and rather more than 

 three times as long as wide. 



Type Species. — Archseometa nephilina, sp. nov. 



The discovery of this Spider is of very great interest, because it puts beyond 

 reasonable doubt the existence in the Carboniferous epoch of the Arachnomorphas, 

 which were previously not known to occur earlier than the Oligocene. It is, 

 perhaps, necessary, however, to qualify this statement in connection with the 

 genus and species described by Fritsch as Pyritaranea tubifera, which has the 

 appearance of an Arachnomorphous form. But it is impossible to say much about 

 this genus because the segmentation of the appendages, as represented by this 

 author, is quite unlike that of any known Arachnid, living or extinct. Assuming 

 that Pyritaranea was one of the Arachnomorph as, as Fritsch suggests by his refer- 

 ence to the Clubionidas in connection with it, Archasometa certainly differs from 

 that genus in the greater length of its legs. In Pyritaranea, for example, an 

 entire leg of the fourth pair only slightly exceeds the abdomen in length, and the 



