Palæont. [ad. mod.L. Trilobītes (Walch, 1771), f. Gr. τρι-, TRI- + λόβ-ος lobe (of the ear, etc.) + -ITE1.] A member of a large group of extinct arthropodous animals, characterized by a three-lobed body; allied to the extinct Eurypterids and the existing King-crabs (Limulus), and like them of doubtful affinity, having been usually classed as crustaceans, sometimes as arachnids; their remains are found abundantly in Palæozoic rocks, esp. the Silurian.
1832. J. Green, Monogr. Trilobites N. Amer., 14. The fossil remains of the trilobite family.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 195. A limestone, containing trilobites and other fossils of our mountain and transition limestones.
1842. H. Miller, O. R. Sandst., ix. (ed. 2), 209. The Trilobite has a wide geological range, extending from the upper Cambrian rocks to the upper Coal Measures.
1860. All Year Round, No. 50. 563. A creature called a Trilobite, very much like an immense woodlouse.
1873. Dawson, Earth & Man, ii. 44. The body was composed of numerous segments, each divided transversely into three lobes, whence they have received the name of Trilobites.
attrib. 1854. Murchison, Siluria, ix. 194. The trilobite-flags of Builth.
Hence Trilobitic a., pertaining to, of the nature of, or containing trilobites.
1839. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 148/2. Until we come to trilobitic schist.
1872. W. S. Symonds, Rec. Rocks, iii. 51. The absence of the trilobitic genus, Olenus, from the Menevian group.
1875. Croll, Climate & T., xviii. 294. Those strange trilobitic-looking fishes of that era.
