The Appendages, Anatomy, and Relationships of Trilobites

by Percy E. Raymond

The early search was so barren of results that negative evidence came to be accepted as of positive value, and it was for many years generally believed that such organs as may have been present beneath the dorsal test were so soft as to be incapable of preservation. This view is best expressed by Burmeister (1846, p. 43):

There is good proof that the feet of trilobites must have been soft membranous organs, for the absence of the slightest remains of these organs in the numerous specimens observed is of itself evidence of the fact, and it can indeed scarcely be supposed that hard horny extremities should be affixed to a soft membranous abdominal surface; since they would not have possessed that firm basis, which all solid organs of locomotion require, in order that they may be properly available.

Very well reasoned, and were it not for the discovery of new material in American localities, Burmeister's views would probably never have been proved incorrect. One can not escape the suspicion that some of the accepted hypotheses of today, founded on similar "proof," may yield in time to the weight of bits of positive evidence.

The history of the study of appendages of trilobites may be divided into two periods. The first, in which there was a general belief that the appendages were soft organs, but during which numerous "finds" of limbs were reported, extended from the time of Linné to the year (1876) in which Walcott demonstrated the fact that the animals possessed jointed ambulatory and breathing organs.

The second, much more fruitful period, began with Walcott's publication of 1881, descriptive of the appendages of Ceraurus and Calymene, and for the purposes of this memoir, closes with his great contribution on the anatomy of Neolenus (1918). Beecher's brilliant productions came in the middle of the second period.

In the first period, there were at least two authentic discoveries of appendages, those of Eichwald (1825) and Billings (1870), but since neither of these men convinced his confreres of the value of his finds, the work of neither can be considered as having marked an especial epoch in the history.

As all the authentic finds will be treated in detail on later pages, only a brief résumé of the first period will be given here. This has already been done by Burmeister (1843, 1846) and Barrande (1852, 1872), whose works have been my primary sources of information, but I have looked up the original papers, copies of nearly all of which are to be seen in the libraries in Cambridge and Boston. Brig.-Gen. A. W. Vogdes, U. S. A. (retired), has very kindly placed at my disposal a number of references and notes.

Linné (1759) was the first to report the discovery of appendages of trilobites. Törnquist (1896) has pressed for a recognition of the contribution of the great Swedish naturalist to this problem, but Beecher (1896 B) doubted the validity of the find. Linné figured a specimen of Parabolina spinulosa (Wahlenberg), with what he interpreted as a pair of antennæ attached. He states (translation quoted from Törnquist): "Most remarkable in this specimen are the antennæ in the front, which I never saw in any other sample, and which clearly prove this fossil to belong to the insects." Beecher has shown as conclusively as can be shown without access to the original specimen that the supposed antennæ were really only portions of the thickened anterior border, the appearance being due to imperfect preservation. Brünnich as early as 1781 called attention to the imperfection of this specimen, and it is also referred to by Wahlenberg (1821, p. 39), Brongniart (1822, p. 42), Dalman (1828, p. 73), and Angelin (1854, p. 46).

Audouin (1821) seems to have been the first naturalist with sufficient knowledge of the Arthropoda to be competent to undertake the study of the trilobites. He concluded that the absence of ventral appendages was probably a necessary consequence of the skeletal conformation, and thought if any were discovered, they would prove to be of a branchial nature.

Wahlenberg (1821) in the same year expressed his belief that the trilobites were nearly allied to Limulus and in particular tried to show that the trilobites could have had masticatory appendages attached about the mouth as in that modern "insect" (p. 20). Wahlenberg was also the first to describe an hypostoma of a trilobite (p. 37, pl. 1, fig. 6), but did not understand the nature of his specimen, which he described as a distinct species.