Illustrated: Walcott, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 57, 1911, p. 20, pl. 6, figs. 1, 2 (exopodites of thorax and cephalon);—Ibid., vol. 57, 1912, p. 191, pl. 24, figs., 1, la (antennules, caudal rami, and endopodites of thorax);—Ibid., vol. 57, 1912, p. 277, pl. 45, figs. 1-4 (antennules, endopodites of cephalon and thorax, caudal rami);—Text-book of Paleontology, edited by C. R. Eastman, 2d ed., vol. 1. 1913, p. 701, fig. 1343 (exopodites), p. 716, fig. 1376 (abdominal appendages), fig. 1377 (appendages of thorax and pygidium);—Ann. Rept. Smithson. Inst. for 1915, 1916, pl. 9;—Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 67, 1918, pp. 126-131 et al., pl. 14, fig. 1; pls. 15-20; pl. 21, fig. 6; pls. 22, 23; pl. 31 (restoration); pl. 34, fig. 3 (restored section); pl. 35, fig. 4; pl. 36, fig. 3 (hypostoma).
The following description of the appendages of Neolenus is summarized from Walcott's paper of 1918, and from a study of the eight specimens mentioned below.
The antennules are long, slender, and flexible, and lack the formal double curvature so characteristic of those of Triarthrus. There are short fine spines on the distal rims of the segments of the proximal half of each, thus giving great sensitiveness to these organs. In the proximal portion of each, the individual segments are short and wider than long, and in the distal region they are narrow and longer than wide.
There are four pairs of biramous cephalic appendages, which differ only very slightly from the appendages of the thorax. All are of course excessively flattened, and they are here described as they appear.
The coxopodites, shown for the first time in Walcott's paper of 1918, are broad, longer than wide, and truncated on the inner ends, where they bear short, stout, unequal spines similar to those along the anterior margin. The gnathobases are but slightly modified to serve as mouth parts, much less so than in Triarthrus, but the coxopodites of the cephalon are shorter and wider than those of the thorax.
At the distal end of the coxopodite arise the endopodite and exopodite. The endopodite consists of six segments, the distal ones, propodite and dactylopodite, more slender than the others, the last bearing three terminal spines. The first endopodite is shorter than the others and slightly more slender (pl. 16, fig. 1)[1] and the anterior appendages turn forward more or less parallel to the sides of the hypostoma (pl. 22). The basipodite, ischiopodite, meropodite, and carpopodite are, in their flattened condition, roughly rectangular, only a little longer than wide, taper gradually distally, each bears small spines on the outer rim, and some of the proximal ones usually have a row along the margin.
[1] Nota bene! All references in this section are to the plates of Doctor Walcott's paper in 1918.
The exopodites of the cephalon, as of the body of Neolenus, are very different from those of any other trilobite whose appendages were previously known. As shown in the photographs (pl. 20, fig. 2; pl. 22), each exopodite consists of a single long, broad, leaf-like blade, not with many segments as in Triarthrus, but consisting of a large basal and small terminal lobe. It bears on its outer margin numerous relatively short, slender, flat setæ. The long axes of the exopodites point forward, and the setæ are directed forward and outward. They stand more nearly at right angles to the shaft on the cephalic exopodites than on those of the thorax. This same type of broad-bladed exopodite is also found on the thorax and pygidium.
The number of functional gnathobases on the cephalon is unknown. That four endopodites were present on one side is shown pretty clearly by specimen 58591 (pl. 16, fig. 3) and while no more than two well preserved exopodites have been seen on a side, there probably were four. Specimen 65513 (pl. 16, fig. 1) shows gnathobases on the second and third appendages of that individual as preserved, but there is no positive evidence that these are really the second and third appendages, for they are obviously displaced. The hypostoma of Neolenus is narrow but long, several specimens showing that it extended back to the horizon of the outer ends of the last pair of glabellar furrows. It is not as wide as the axial lobe, so that, while gnathobases attached beneath the first pair of furrows would probably not reach back to the posterior end of the hypostoma, they might lie parallel to it and not extend beneath. It seems possible, then, that there were four pairs of endobases but that the second rather than the first pair served as mandibles, as seems to be the case in Ceraurus.