II.—A New Carboniferous Arachnid

Extract

Last April Dr. Anton Friê, of Prague, applied to the Natural History Museum for the loan of a fossil Arachnid which he had seen during a short visit to London in the Summer of 1902, and wished to include in a descriptive monograph of Carboniferous Arachnida which he has now in preparation. Since the specimen is unique, it was unfortunately impossible to accede to the request. Dr. Smith Woodward, however, kindly suggested that I should examine the specimen and, if necessary, describe and figure it, so that perchance an account of it might yet be in time to find a place in the monograph above referred to. The specimen, imbedded in the two pieces of a split nodule of clay-ironstone from the Carboniferous measures at Coseley, near Dudley, belonged formerly to the collection of Mr. Henry Johnson. It bears the register number 1551, and is ticketed by Dr. H. Woodward “Eophrynus, sp. nov.” The dorsal surface is exposed, part of it adhering to one face of the matrix, part to the other.

1.—Description of the Specimen; its generic and specific features.

The carapace unfortunately is crushed, and nothing positive can be affirmed as to its structure save that it appears to have been slightly wider than long, with a shallow, postero-lateral constriction and a straight, transverse, posterior border. In the middle line behind, however, there is an acutely angular impression, obviously representing the median impression occupying the same position and presenting much the same form in Eophrynus prestvicii, H. Woodw. The crushed condition of the carapace suggests that its median area was axially elevated as in the last - mentioned species and in Kreischeria wiedei.