I'JO SCOKl'IONS AND ALLIED ANNULATKD SPIDEKS OF THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN 



Genus : 

 Damon 



IJistribulion 

 of S,'li/n«a- 



Genus: JJanwii, C. L. Koch 

 Tibia of fourth limb consisting of two pieces ; hand of maxillary palp bearing, below 

 the strong spine directed distally, another strong spine directed backwards. 



Damun vtn-ieyutu.-: (Perty) (Plate XV., tig. 4; Fig. 28) 

 Kraepcliu, "Scorpiones uud Pedipalpi," iu Jkix Ticrrckh, VIII, 1S99, ji. ii\) 



Cephalothorax yellowish-red to reddish-brown, 

 blackish in the radiating furrows, and with yellow 

 spots at the margins ; each segment of the abdomen 

 with two spectacle-like black oval spots with yellow 

 centre ; limbs distinctly annulated. 



This species is widely distributed over Africa, 

 from Cape Colony to Natal, Transvaal, Lake Nyasa, 

 Zanzibar to the Sudan (14° N. lat.). It is also known 

 from Homran, Arabia. Like the second species of 

 the genus, it is probably carried to other countries, 

 possibly in wood, and has been found in South 

 America. It attains a total length of about 25 mm. 



M-t-U-v+J-H-tU+U 



/ 



Fig. 28. — MaxiUaiT palp of Dam>^n -vartegatus 

 (y — femur : t — tibia ; h — hand ) 



SOLIFUG.I: 



A very distinct group of annulated spiders, characterised as follows : cephalothorax 

 followed by three free thoracic segments and an abdomen consisting of ten segments, not 

 followed by a tail-like postabdomen. Mandibles scissor-like, maxillary j)alps limb-like, 

 provided with a vesicular adhesive organ at the distal end. Basal joints of the fourth pair 

 of limbs with three or five pedunculated triangular appendices (malleoli) (Pig. 35B). 



These spider-like, liairy, ugly-looking arachnoids are all very alike in their external 

 features and very difficult to distinguish. In coloration they are rather similar to the 

 scorpions, yellowish to blackish-brown. 



The StiJiJ'iiij.-f are probably all oviparous ; the newly-hatched young are only in a few 

 points (as the number of the malleoli, development of the spines of the limbs) different from 

 the adults. All Solifagie are rapacious nocturnal animals feeding on insects, especially on 

 termites, and living in arid parts of the warmer regions of the earth. They reach their 

 northern limit between the 40" and 45° N. lat., but are absent in Italy, China and Japan, 

 nor are they represented in the Malay Archipelago with a single exception. They are 

 distributed all over Africa, and are especially rich in species in Cape Colony, which 

 Kraepelin believes to be the centre of their distribution. They are found in America, in 

 the Southern United States to Washington Territory, through Mexico, central and 

 northern South America. They have even been found in the Cordilleras of Chile and the 

 Argentine, but never in the eastern States (Brazil, Paraguay, Guiana, Eastern Venezuela). 



SoUfngiv are feared as much as, or still more than, scori)ions wherever they occur, 

 at least in North Africa. Their rapid movements, the powerful mandibles, the great 

 size of the hairy body, are terrifying to Europeans as well as to natives, though no 

 poisonous apparatus whatever can be detected. 



Though I have collected Solifiujie in Algeria as well as in Egypt, Asia Minor and 

 the Sudan, I have never been bitten by any of the specimens, and therefore do not know 

 from personal experience whether they should be handled with care or not ; Ijut in every 

 case it would be well to take precautions, although the smaller species are said to be unable 

 to perforate even the comparatively thin human skin. 



