So 



HARD WICKE *S SCIENCE -G OSSIP. 



what purpose do these hairs serve, or why is it that 

 all other internal organs being so perfectly adapted 

 by their smooth and lubricated surfaces for moving 

 together without friction, these should present a 

 roughened surface, we might learn a lesson of 

 humility by reflecting that as we proceed step by step 

 in our investigations of the mysteries of nature, we 

 are continually finding how inadequate is the capacity 

 of the human mind to comprehend the designs of an 

 omniscient Creator. I now proceed to the considera- 

 tion of the breathing organs. Spiders breathe by 

 branchia, organs somewhat resembling the gills of 

 fishes, being a series of thin membranous plates 

 placed together like the leaves of a book in two 

 clusters within the abdomen, one on either side the 



spiders says, " the foot (or portion corresponding to 

 the tarsus of insects), is divided into two parts, the 

 tarsus and metatarsus, and in some species into three 

 joints." The tarsus of the harvestman has in some 

 cases as many as ninety joints, the lowest number I 

 have met with being twenty-five. The feet of spiders 

 are terminated by two or more claws, generally pec- 

 tinated ; those of the harvestman have only one claw, 

 curved, but quite smooth. The palpi of the harvest- 

 man closely resemble those of the female spider, 

 excepting that the claw at their termination is 

 generally, if not always, pectinated in the spider and 

 smooth in the harvestman, though I have found two 

 instances in which the claws of the palpi were pecti- 

 nated, although those of the feet of the same 



Fig. 56. Fal.\ of 

 Ditto. 



Fig. 57. Bipennis of 

 Ditto, 



Fig. 55. Oviposito of Harvestman " Spider." (The lines show actual size of full-grown organs.) 



A A A A A A A 



AA AAAAA 



Fig. 59. Part of a (Fig. 55) highly magnified. 



individuals were not so. The absence of spinnerets 

 distinguishes the harvestman from the generality of 

 spiders, but as some few species of spiders are also 

 without them, this is not a difference of so positive 

 a character as the other points I have noticed. The 

 last organs to which I would draw attention are the 

 fakes : in spiders these are terminated by a curved 

 claw sometimes deeply serrated on its inner side ; in 

 the harvestman the termination is a pair of forceps or 

 nippers like those of a lobster or crab. These fakes in 

 most of the harvestmen are rather smaller 

 than we find them in spiders, but in some 

 cases they are fully three times larger than 

 we find them in any of the spiders, and 

 assuming quite a different form ; in fact, 

 they no longer resemble reaphooks, from 

 which they derive their name of fakes, but 

 are much more like pickaxes : therefore, following 

 the same kind of nomenclature, I propose bipenni 

 as an appropriate name for them ; the fig. 57 

 shows an outline of their peculiar form and the 

 comparative size that the bipenni and the fakes bear 

 to each other. All the specimens I have found 

 possessing bipenni were males ; I think, however, 

 these organs do not distinguish the sexes, but a 

 difference of species, as both males and females 

 are found bearing the fakes ; as the upper spur or 

 arm of the bipenni is not present in those in- 

 dividuals that are less than half grown, I think it is 

 not fully developed till the last moult, as in some 

 that are about three-quarters grown it is very short 



Fig. 58. Intromittent Organ of Ditto. 



sexual orifice in the female. The air is admitted 

 to these branchia through stigmata, or horny plates 

 having fine irregular openings, presenting the appear- 

 ance of a grating, corresponding in some measure to 

 the spiracles of insects. The harvestmen breathe by 

 trachea, the same as insects ; there are two spiracles, 

 one on either side of the abdomen ; the principal 

 tracheal tube proceeds a short distance from each 

 spiracle, and then divides and subdivides, permeating 

 every part of the body. The eyes present a difference 

 in number only to those of spiders ; Blackwall says, 

 " the number of the ocelli in spiders is always two, 

 six, or eight ; " in the harvestman the number is 

 four. The same authority in describing the legs of 



