126 WHIP-SCORPIONS AND OTHERS 



Phrynichus ceylonicus in India, Paracharon caecus in Portuguese 

 Guinea, Masicodamon allanteus in Morocco and Damon medius 

 and D. variegatus in French West Africa and South Africa respec- 

 tively. According to Lawrence (1949) the last species probably 

 occurs in all buildings in Pietermaritzburg in the ventilation areas 

 below floor-level. Specimens are also very common in outhouses, 

 beneath stored furniture, packing cases and other large wooden 

 structures which have been left undisturbed. In parks and gardens 

 they often live under old tree stumps or fallen trunks of trees, 

 while in more open country they are common under stones and in 

 crevices of rocks. It is probable that the more domesticated species 

 are better able to withstand dry conditions, and Phrynichus ceyloni- 

 cus, a species that does not burrow, can live for two or three weeks 

 in a bare cage, while the variety pusillus appears to be confined to 

 moist jungles of the lower hills of Ceylon and dies in a few days if 

 not supplied with moist soil (Graveley, 1915). 



All Phrynichida are predatory, feeding on a varied selection of 

 insects such as cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, termites, wood- 

 lice and the like. They are very 'nervous' animals, approach their 

 prey cautiously and then seize it suddenly, gripping it with their 

 pedipalps. In Phrynichus ceylonicus both palps are shot forward 

 in any attempt to catch the prey, but capture is usually effected 

 between the terminal claw and the spine near the end of the tibia 

 of the pedipalp on one side only. Spines are arranged to form a very 

 effective 'hand', the terminal claw being apposable to the proximal 

 of two long dorsal spines at the distal end of the tibia and the spine 

 on the penultimate joint to the distal of these. As the claw and all 

 three spines are rigid and sharply pointed it might be supposed 

 that once the prey is grasped, escape would be quite impossible. 

 The strength necessary to retain the prey appears to be lacking, 

 however, and even a soft-bodied cricket may be attacked un- 

 successfully, time after time. But once within reach of the cheli- 

 cerae, all chance of escape vanishes. 



The prey, which frequently remains alive for a time, is held be- 

 tween the pedipalps, often with the terminal finger embedded in 

 its tissues, whilst parts of it are scooped into the mouth by the 

 terminal segments of the chelicerae whose saw-like armature may 

 be of use in severing pieces of suitable size from the main mass. 



