80 THE HOUSE FLY—DISEASE CARRIER 
“Several of the orb-weaving spiders are often found 
on porches, where their snares will intercept many 
flies. Epeira sericcitci nearly always occurs near or on 
buildings.” 
False Scorpions on Flies 
There is a group of Arachnids, known as the false 
scorpions or pseudoscorpions, which are much smaller 
and simpler in structure than the true scorpions. They 
have no poison gland and no spine at the end of the 
body. They bear much the same relation to the true 
scorpions that the mites do to the true spiders. • They live 
beneath the bark of trees, in moss, between the leaves 
of old books, etc. They run sidewise and backwards, 
and live on mites and small insects. Two or three 
species of the false scorpions are sometimes found 
clinging by their claw-like pedipalps to the legs of the 
house fly and other kinds of flies. It is not known 
why they attach themselves to these insects, but it is 
hardly probable that they feed on them, and it seems 
altogether likely that they simply attach themselves in 
the same way as does the hypopus of the Tyroglyphid 
mite, in order to be carried to some better feeding 
ground. Much has been written upon this subject, 
and many different views are held about this attach¬ 
ment, but there is no sound evidence on the one side 
or on the other. The suggestion has been made that 
the false scorpion seizes the legs of the flies without 
realizing their size, and that they remain attached until 
the fly dies and then they feed upon the body. Doctor 
