" WIND-SCORPIONSr 319 



Reaching out in front of the jaws, are the next pair of 

 stout, jointed hmbs which are remarkable for their length. 

 These wave in the air as if to " interrogate space ". They 

 carry a remarkable and highly developed " smelling " organ, 

 contained in an invagination at their tips. This organ can 

 be protruded and withdrawn, and has given rise to some con- 

 troversy. In Lichtenstein's description^ the keen sense of 

 smell of these hunters was rightly localised here, i.e., in the 

 swollen knob-like ends of these limbs. This view prevailed 

 until Dufour, who seems first to have noticed the protrusion 

 of the sense organs themselves, claimed them as suckers for 

 holding prey. Other more recent observers who have 

 watched the animal climb out of glasses, etc., touching the 

 glass with the tips of these same limbs, have adopted 

 Dufour's suggestion that they must be suckers to help in 

 climbing. .Another observer of the living animal, who was 

 not aware of the presence of any protrusible organ, described 

 the limbs as emitting a phosphorescent flame from their tips 

 on being applied to any object. This appearance is quite 

 explained by the glistening satin-like appearance of the chitin 

 of the organ observable in its protruded condition. After 

 all, the earlier view was the right one. 



The mouth of the Wind-scorpion is a very minute 

 aperture at the tip of a beak, which projects from between 

 the bases of the last-mentioned limbs, but is not visible until 

 the jaws have been pulled apart and raised. This beak, which 

 is quite rigid, is evidently forced by the penetrating action 

 of the jaws into the wound. The juices which are sucked 

 out, are strained through an elegant lattice-like sieve which 

 stands out at the tip of the beak, and is constructed out 

 of the fringing bristles. So finely does this sieve strain 

 the food that on one occasion I found moth-scales retained 

 on its outer surface while, here and there, in the intestines 

 of the same animal, a few similar scales were found, 

 evidently sucked in by the strong pumping of the oesoph- 

 agus, but in each case apparently forming a centre of 

 disturbance to the normal processes of digestion. 



^ Lichtenstein and Herbst, Naturg. Insecten, Gattungen Solpuga und 

 Fha/angiu?n, Berlin, 1797. 



