90 SOLIFUGAE 



pose of rakes. These are pushed into the loose sand, their ends 

 being turned inwards so as to gather it in armfuls. The rakings are 

 repeated in such rapid succession that the sand comes spouting 

 from beneath the abdomen in a rhythmical series of jets. From 

 time to time the Solifugid reverses its position, lowers itself into 

 the excavation, thrusts its body into the place where it previously 

 raked, and shovels up the debris with its broad head, especially 

 any of the larger fragments which it cannot so easily dislodge with 

 its rakes. Then it again turns about and resumes the scuffling with 

 its second pair of legs. Sometimes the females merely cut a circle 

 in the soil with their jaws and kick the loosened fragments away 

 (Pocock, 1898). Eremohates formicaria constructs its burrow in the 

 same manner as Galeodes, but instead of using a common burrow 

 throughout the breeding season, a new one is constructed almost 

 every night (Turner, 1916). 



Food and feeding habits 



Solifugae are exclusively predatory and carnivorous, having an 

 extraordinary voracity. They will continue feeding until their ab- 

 domens are so distended that they can scarcely move. A young 

 Galeodes scarcely 5 mm long has been seen to devour over 100 flies 

 in 24 hours. Although insects, including even hard beetles, form 

 their staple diet, Solifugae will kill and eat large spiders, scorpions 

 and lizards. They have also been observed to kill mice and small 

 birds. Several species such as Solpuga sericea and S. lineata burrow 

 into the ground to catch termites while a Californian species of 

 Eremohates kills bees, entering the hives in search of prey. The 

 small nocturnal species E. pallipes from Colorado is said to hunt 

 bed-bugs. 



The prey is probably followed by sight in some species, for a 

 blind Galeodes has difficulty in locating its victims, but the noc- 

 turnal South African Solpugyla glohicornis searches at random with 

 its pedipalps and first pair of legs stretched forward, and sight is 

 not used. It is possible that the olfactory sense may also be used in 

 orientation, as one specimen was observed trying to get hold of a 

 snail that had retreated into its shell (Bolwig, 1952). The long- 

 legged forms can run at great speed so that they resemble balls of 

 yellow thistledown blown over the desert. Often when going at 



