6 THE STUDY OF INSECTS 



bees, of ants, and of termites and in households where they are often 

 found between the leaves of books. It is believed that they live on mites 

 and minute insects. They are often found attached to flies and beetles 

 and according to one observer they sometimes kill the flies and eat them. 



Order PHALANGIDA 

 The Harvestmen, or Daddy-long-legs 



The harvestmen are very common in most parts of the United States. 

 They are well known to children in this country under the name daddy- 

 long-legs, but as this name is also sometimes applied to crane-flies, har- 

 vestmen is preferable. In some sections of the country the harvestmen 

 are known as grandfather graybeards. 



Most harvestmen can be recognized by their very long and slender 



Fig. io — The Striped Harvestman 



legs (Fig. io) although some species have comparatively short ones. The 

 cephalothorax is indistinctly if at all segmented. The abdomen is short, 

 broad, consists of nine segments, and is without a tail-like appendage; it 

 is broadly joined to the cephalothorax. 



The eyes of the harvestmen are two in number, and are situated on a 

 prominent tubercle near the middle of the cephalothorax. The chelicerae 

 are pincer-like. Their pedipalpi are four-jointed, and are small compared 

 with the pedipalpi of the preceding orders; they resemble in form the 

 palpi of insects. The members of this order breathe by tracheae, which 

 open by a single pair of spiracles, on the lower side of the body at the 

 junction of the cephalothorax and abdomen. 



There seems to be some uncertainty regarding the food of harvestmen. 

 Some writers say they live on dead insects while others aver that they 

 feed on live aphids and other small insects. It seems clear that they 

 also suck the juices of fruits and soft vegetables. 



In the North most harvestmen die in the autumn after they have 

 deposited eggs under stones, or in crevices or in the ground. These eggs 

 do not hatch until the following spring. In the South more of the adults 

 hibernate under rubbish during the winter. 



No silk glands have been found in the harvestmen and they do not 

 make webs like the spiders. 



Order ARANEIDA 



The Spiders 



The spiders differ from other Arachnida in having the abdomen un- 

 segmented and joined to the cephalothorax by a short, narrow stalk. 



