Spiders and Their Near Relatives 



The eggs are laid in the ground, under stones, or in crevices 

 of wood. They are placed in position by means of the ovipositor 

 which can be extruded to a great length (Fig. 50). Henking ('88) 

 figures a female in the act of depositing her eggs in the ground, 

 and represents the ovipositor three times as long as the entire 

 body of the animal. 



Unlike the eggs of spiders, those of the harvestmen which 

 are laid in the autumn do not hatch till the following spring. 

 The species observed by Henking remained six months in the 

 egg. The young moulted as soon as they reached the surface of 

 the ground; they were white as snow except the eyes, which were 

 coal-black; the abdomen was pointed behind showing a one- 

 jointed vestige of a postabdomen. In a short time the body 

 becomes of the same colour as the adult. The newly hatched young 

 use the second pair of legs as feelers in the same way as does the 

 adult; but they are apt to hide under stones or other objects and 

 rarely attract attention till midsummer, when they are more 

 conspicuous. 



The adults also ordinarily hide during the day, but at twilight 

 wander about in search of food. Some species apparently often 

 migrate from the fields where they were hatched to the vicinity 

 of houses, barns, and out-buildings where they congregate in 

 large numbers; occasionally they congregate in a similar manner 

 on the trunks of trees. 



It was said long ago by a German writer that "they spring 

 and pounce upon their victim as the cat upon the mouse, and 

 seize it with their palpi as if with hands." This is perhaps the 

 foundation for the statement made in many books that the 

 harvestmen feed on living insects. But Henking ('88), who kept 

 large numbers of them under as nearly as possible natural con- 

 ditions, found that they shunned living insects and fed only on 

 those that they found dead. They also fed on various kinds of 

 soft vegetables and fruits, from which they pressed the fluid by 

 means of their chelicerae. On the other hand, Weed ('93). states 

 that Liobnnum politum when in confinement eagerly devours 

 plant lice; and Banks ('01) states that they feed mostly on living 

 insects. 



It is also often stated that the harvestmen eat solid food. 



1 his, however, needs confirmation. Bernard ('96) found, in 



some sections of an unknown Phalangid, that behind the brain 



57 



