GENEKAL CLASSIFICATION AND STRUCTURE. 



23 



Palps. 



rotary motion upon the fore part of the sternum, moving toward and 

 against each other, thus crushing tlie interposed i)rey. 



The pal})s (ps) or palpi are two organs inserted into tlie free end of 

 the maxillu", of wliich they are an organic part.^ Eacli i)alp has five 

 joints of various lengths named in order from the maxilla, (1) 

 axillary, ax, (2) humeral, hu, (3) cubital, cu, (4) radial, ra, and 

 (5) digital, dg. The axillary joint is the shortest of the five and corre- 

 sponds to the second joint of the leg or trochanter, the maxilla being the 

 equivalent of the coxa.^ The 

 humeral joint is much longer 

 than the axillary ; the cubital 

 again is short, being a sort of 

 knee joint. The radial is one 

 and a half or twice as long as 

 the above, and the digital is 

 usually the longest joint of all.'^ 

 The palps vary greatly in 

 the two sexes. In the female 

 each digital, dg, ter- 

 minates like the foot 

 and is usually armed 

 with a well developed 

 curved claw (palpal claw) pec- 

 tinated or serrated. These or- 

 gans are prehensile, are used va- 

 riously as hands or feet to hold 

 and turn the prey, to dig, to 

 sustain the body when suspend- 

 ed upon webs, to grasp tlie CO- Fig. 12. Male of Agalena noevia : the specWed Tubeweaver. 



coon, etc., and even to aid in (Marx, dei.) 



locomotion. In the male the digital joint contains the genital organ ; it is 

 enlarged, often very greatly, into a bulb whose structure is complicated and 

 subject to great specific variations. (Fig. 12.) It is always more or less 

 covered on top by a i)late, which may be distinguished from other parts 

 by a more or less dense pubescence scattered upon the superior surface and 



Sexual 

 Forms of 

 Palps. 



^ On account of the curved process upon the top of each maxilla wlio.se convexity is 

 toward its fellow, the ])alp may be said to issue from the side instead of the end of the 

 maxilla. 



2 Westrin<r, "Araneiie Sveci;e," Termini Technici, pa-re 11. 



* I have adopted the terniinolosj^y f)f Walckenaer, which is followed also hy Blackwall 

 and C'amhridjie. That of Westring is (in tlie same order as above): (1) l)asal, (2) femoral, 

 (3) patellar, (4) tibial, (5) tarsal. Tlie analogy between this terminology and that of the 

 legs, perhaps has some advantage to the memory, but llic \\'alckenaer names ai)i)ear to me 

 to be preferable, as being (|nite distinctive, ami thus preventing confusion with names given 

 to the joints of the legs. 



