^'WIND-SCORPIONS," A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF 

 THE GALEODID^. 



1^ H E name 'Wind-scorpion' is translated from the Arabic. 

 It is applied to a little known but very important 

 group of Arachnids, some genera of which contain indivi- 

 duals that reach a great size, measuring over two inches in 

 length of body. The principal genus (Galeodes), which is 

 that best known to the Arabs, is lung-legged, very hairy, 

 and so swift of movement that almost every writer who has 

 had personal experience of these Arachnids has recorded 

 his astonishment at the rapidity with which they cover the 

 ground. A writer, in a private letter to Mr. Pocock, says 

 that they look like a piece of thistle-down driven before the 

 wind. There are, however, also short-legged genera, the 

 members of which, although not so rapid, are yet reported 

 to be extremely agile. In one genus the hind legs are said 

 to be specialised for springing. 



Pallas was the first European naturalist who recognised 

 the animal as an Arachnid. Apparently on account ol 

 its long legs, he thought it was related to the Harvest-men, 

 and called it Phalangiuni araneoides, or the spider-like 

 Phalangium. Its general resemblance to a spider can also 

 be traced in the German names " Scorpion-spinne," " Gift- 

 kanker" (= poison-spider), and even in the more modern 

 " Walzen-spinne ". It was Olivier who constituted it a new 

 genus under the name of "Galeodes" (1791, Encyc. Mdtho- 

 dique) — a name perhaps referring to the helmet-like plate at 

 the front end of the body. This plate is of such great mor- 

 phological importance that it is well that it should be em- 

 phasised in the name of this group ; for though traceable in 

 most Arachnids, it is so conspicuous in the Galeodidae as to 

 distinguish them from all the other families. 



The Galeodidae do not make webs like the spiders, but 

 hunt their prey in the open, fairly running it down. They 

 feed chiefly on insects, moths, and even hard beetles, and 

 will strike at almost anything that comes in their way, 



