1G4 C. H. TURNER 



back until the chitin has been scraped clean. When the thorax 

 is too small for the jaws to be inserted, from the beginning, the 

 lower blade of each jaw is placed on the outside and the upper 

 on the inside of the body. After the body has been disposed 

 of, the fleshy parts of the legs and even the bases of the wings 

 are subjected to these scissors-saw-like movements of the jaws 

 and passed from side to side between them, until all edible parts 

 have been removed. If the false-spider is not disturbed while 

 eating the carcass left behind is usually nothing but a shapeless 

 mass of chitin. Even when disturbed the result is often the same. 



Normally this false-spider feeds only on living prey. With 

 dead insects on all sides, I have seen it rest quietly for more 

 than an hour, waiting for living prey. However, it is possible 

 to induce it to eat recently killed insects, if they are properly 

 manipulated. Two large crickets that had been dead about an 

 hour were placed in the jar with the solpugid. One of these 

 was manipulated in such a manner that it moved about and 

 occasionally touched the false-spider. The movements did not 

 resemble in the least those of a living cricket; they were simply 

 jerky and somewhat gentle. Finally the false-spider grabbed 

 the cricket by its posterior end (which end was moving forward) 

 and devoured it in the manner mentioned above. In due time 

 nothing was left but one leg and a shapeless mass of chitin. 

 Although she came in contact with the other dead cricket several 

 times, never once did she even attempt to eat it. 



I found two living things that my specimen would not eat: 

 hairy caterpillars and spiders. When first confronted with a 

 hairy caterpillar, she sprang to the attack, snapping viciously. 

 At each snap she secured a jaw full of hairs, but the larva was 

 unhurt. She then wiped her chelicerae on the soil, as though 

 trying to clean them. After the first few nights she no longer 

 snapped at hairy caterpillars, but, when they came near her, 

 she would back or rush away. Along with the insects obtained 

 by sweeping I placed live spiders in the jar. She never touched 

 one of them in my presence. Each morning I found prac- 

 tically all of the spiders alive. Whether this immunity of the 

 spiders is due to their elusiveness or to an inherited bias against 

 them on the part of the solpugid is uncertain. 



Although these false-spiders are nocturnal in their habits and 

 spend much of the day asleep — reclining on either the side, 



