Note on Eophrynus.

By F. T. HOWARD AND T. H. THOMAS.

THE specimen discovered by Mr. O'Connor in the roof of the Nine-Feet Seam (White Ash, or Ironstone Series), Ty'nybedw Pit, Pentre, in the Rhondda Valley, is an Eophrynus-an ancient type of the Arachnid family, which includes all the living species of scorpions and spiders.

The scorpion, as we know it, is very unlike the spider of to-day, but it is usual to find the characteristics of both in a single individual among the Arachnida of Coal-Measure times.

Mr. O'Connor's specimen is, unfortunately, not complete. The abdomen is well seen, but the anterior portion of the body and the appendages are altogether absent.

The figure shows the underside of the abdomen and the cast thereof enlarged to six times the natural size.

The abdomen is roughly circular in outline, and there are eight very distinct division lines between the segments. Those on the anterior part run fairly straight from margin to margin. The 5th and 6th bend regularly backwards and the last pair are sharply curved round the efferent orifice (a).

There is a triangular somewhat slanting depression (b) on the 6th and another on the 7th segment, situated in the median line, the object of which is not clear.

The stigmata or openings of the trachea-the breathing organs-can be distinctly seen on the 2-6 segments (c), long oval in outline, and are situated on the front margin of the segments.

A curious depressed ridge (a) starts on either side on the 7th division line, runs directly forward to the 3rd and then bends outwards, giving the specimen a trilobated appearance.

A depression (e) follows the outline and roughly divides the marginal from the main portion.

An intermediate line of depression (f) is probably not characteristic of the species, but is due to pressure.

The margin terminates in 8 spines (g) on either side, which is connected by a pustulated portion with a scalloped edge.

The pustules are very small and are most numerous along the margin. A few occur on the main portion, especially along the edges of the segments.

The genus Eophrynus was created by Dr. H. Woodward, of the British Museum (to whom we owe many thanks for his kind assistance), from a perfect specimen discovered in the Coal Measures of South Staffordshire. The species was called Eophrynus Prestvicii. Another specimen from the same district had been figured previously by Buckland in his Bridgwater Treatise under another name -Curculioides-from its supposed relationship to the modern Diamond

beetle.

Another species from the coal measures of Ostrau in Moravia, was named E. Salmi by Stur, and since that time the genus has been recorded from the United States.

In 1878 Dr. Woodward described what were presumed to be the remains of a fossil crab from the Mons coalfield, Belgium, which he named "Brachypyge carbonis." The specimen has recently been removed from the Crustacea into the Arachnid family, and has been called "Eophrynus carbonis."*

The specimen from Pentre is very similar to that from Mons, and, we believe, belongs to the same species.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BUCKLAND Bridgwater Treatise, plate 46, fig. 2. Curculioides Prestvicii from Pennystone Ironstone.

H. WOODWARD-Geological Magazine, vol. VIII., 1871, page 385. On a new and very perfect Arachnide from the ironstone of the Dudley coalfield, with figure (Eophrynus Prestvicii), also from Coalbrookdale.

See Geol. Mag.. 1887, p. 49. Footnote: "Mr. S. H. Scudder, of Boston, suggests that it is probably the at domen of an Arachnide nearly related to Eophrynus."

See also Presidental Address. Geol. Soc., 1896, p. CIX., Q.J.G.S., vol. LII.