456 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



tolai'iii!. I insert ii fac simile cop^^ of the figure publislied by Professor 

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

 a bare outline when viewed direetly in front. From the figure anil j)rofile 

 it is seen that all the limbs 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 i)reserved, but that 

 tlie 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, probably furnished a float by which 

 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 Territelaria). 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- 

 atypus woodwardii suggested. ' The fossil is 

 simply an impression in the shale, which, how- 

 ever, is tolerably well preserved, but exhibits 

 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, 

 gives any suggestion of the eye space. As far 

 as it goes, this appears to follow the charac- 

 teristics of Atypus and the TerritelariBe 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.^ 



' Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1888, page 200, for full description of the species. 



* I hesitated much as to whether this fossil siiould be assigned to the Lycosidse, the 

 Attidse, or to Atypinas. On the whole, I decided, though not positively, as above, and on 

 the above named gi-ounds. 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 value of 

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



Fig. 384. 

 Fig. 383. Fossil spider Eoatypus wood- 

 wardii McCooIi. Dorsal view. X3. 

 Fio. 381. Eoatypus woodwardii. Side 

 view. X 3. 



