One of the more important points noted in the later studies of Triarthrus is that the gnathites of the cephalic appendages are much less like the endobases under the thorax than Beecher earlier thought, and showed in his restored figures and in his model. The four gnathites of each side are curved, flattened, not club-shaped, and so wide and so close together that they overlap one another. The metastoma is somewhat larger and more nearly circular than Beecher's earlier preparations led him to suppose.
The restoration here presented is modified only slightly from the one designed by Professor Beecher, and the modifications are taken principally from figures published by him. The gnathites are drawn in form more like that shown by the specimens and his figures in the American Geologist (1895 A), and the metastoma is taken from one of the specimens. On the thorax the chief modification is in the addition of a considerable number of spines to the endopodites. In spite of the trivial character of most of these changes, they emphasize one of the important characteristics of Triarthrus the regional differentiation of the appendages.
It should be pointed out that although Triarthrus is usually considered to be a very primitive trilobite, its appendages are more specialized than those of any of the others known. This is shown in their great length, the double curvature of the antennules, the differentiation of four pairs of endobases on the cephalon as gnathites, and the flattening of the segments of the posterior endopodites. These departures from the uniformity existing among the appendages of the other genera lead one to question whether the genus is really so primitive as has been supposed.
Relation of the Cephalic Appendages to the Markings on the Dorsal Surface of the Glabella.
Triarthrus becki is usually represented as having four pairs of glabellar furrows, but the two pairs at the front are exceedingly faint and the first of them is hardly ever visible, though that it does exist is proved by a number of authentic specimens. The neck furrow is narrow and sharply impressed, continuing across the glabella with a slightly backward curvature. In front of it are two pairs of linear, deeply impressed furrows which in their inward and backward sweep are bowed slightly forward, the ends of the corresponding furrows on opposite sides nearly meeting along the crest of the glabella. In front of these, near the median line, is a pair of slight indentations, having the appearance and position of the inner ends of a pair of furrows similar to those situated just behind them.
In front of and just outside this pair are the exceedingly faint impressions of the anterior pair of furrows, these, as said above, being but seldom seen. They are short, slightly indented linear furrows which have their axes perpendicular to the axis of the cephalon, and do not connect with each other or with the dorsal furrows. The latter are narrow, sharply impressed, and merge into a circumglabellar furrow at the front. In front of the circumglabellar furrow is a very narrow rounded ridge, but the anterior end of the glabella is very close to the margin of the cephalon.
Specimen No. 214, which was cleaned from the dorsal side, shows the posterior tip of the hypostoma, apparently in its natural position, 3.5 mm. back from the anterior margin. The entire length of the cephalon is 6 mm., so that the hypostoma reaches back slightly over one half the length (0.583). The greater part of it has been cleaned off, and one sees the proximal portions of the antennules, which are apparently attached just at the sides of the hypostoma, 2.5 mm. apart and 2.25 mm. back from the anterior edge of the cephalon. This position is distinctly within the outline of the glabella and corresponds approximately to the location of the second pair of glabellar furrows. Specimens 214, 215, 216, 217, and 219 all seem to show the same location for the bases of the antennules. Specimen 220 is the one in which the basal shafts are best preserved and the points of attachment seem to be further apart in it than in any of the others. This specimen is 38 mm. long, and the bases of the antennules are 5.5 mm. apart and 4 mm. behind the anterior margin. As the specimen is cleaned from the ventral side, the dorsal furrows do not show distinctly, but another specimen of about the same size (No. 228, 38.5 mm. long) has the dorsal furrows 8 mm. apart 4 mm. back of the anterior margin.
On the same slab with specimens 209 and 210 there is an individual which, although retaining the test, has had the proximal ends of the antennules so pressed against it that the course of the one on the left side is readily visible. It originates in a small oval mound whose posterior margin impinges upon the third glabellar furrow near the middle of its course, and just outside the outer end of the second glabellar furrow. The cephalon of this specimen is 5 mm. long, and the point of origin of the left antennule is 2.75 mm. in front of the posterior margin and 0.75 mm. from the dorsal furrow.
It is therefore evident that the antennules in this species are not attached beneath the dorsal furrows, but within them and opposite the second pair of glabellar furrows.