608 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



plate), and not infrequently are the same in number as the legs. 

 JSTot a few are fitted with poison sacs and fangs, and in the case of 

 some of the larger true spiders and scorpions the venom is very 

 virulent, and in some instances has proved fatal to human life. 



As this is hardly the place for a technical description of my 

 Thelyphonus — a female — I shall content myself with a few facts 

 and measurements. Those who are curious as to her personal appear- 

 ance can consult the accompanying photograph. Most persons will 

 conclude that her beauty is not even " skin deep." 



The following post-mortem data will perhaps aid in giving a 

 clearer idea of this curious little creature. The length of the body 

 from the front of the cephalo-thorax to the end of the last post- 

 abdominal segment was fifty- 



W iggL*" "' '* % ^ - iii-"-^ 5*81 two millimetres — a little 



more than two inches; the 

 length of the tail was fifty 

 millimetres, thus making 

 the total length about four 

 inches. The width of the 

 abdomen in its widest part, 

 near the center, was thirteen 

 millimetres, or approximate- 

 ly half an inch. The claw- 

 bearing palpi, or " feelers," 

 which are large and very 

 powerful, have an extreme 

 expansion of fifty-eight millimetres, nearly two and a half inches. 

 The tail is a curious organ, and consists of forty-four short, jointed 

 sections of a pale wine color, with a light yellow ring at the 

 base; a few short, scattered pointed hairs are found on each seg- 

 ment. It is about two thirds of a millimetre in thickness at 

 the base and tapers to about half this diameter at the end. "When 

 alarmed, the Thelyphonus holds it curved over forward after the 

 manner of the true scorpions; a habit that probably points to some- 

 common ancestor. Its true function appears to be that of an extra 

 palpus or " feeler." 



The Thelyphonus is generally of a wine color. In some places, 

 as on the cephalo-thorax, this color is black; around the mouth parts, 

 the legs, the sternal plate, and the under side of the abdomen, this 

 wine color is very pronounced. 



The eyes are eight in number. Two of them are close together, 

 on opposite sides of a slightly elevated ridge at the front of the 

 cephalo-thorax. These eyes are bright, black, and beadlike, and 

 about two thirds of a millimetre in diameter. A little farther back,. 



