AEACHNIDA. 



187 



once recognizable by the peculiarity of their external 

 configuration. Their palpi, the representatives of 

 the maxillary palpi of insects, are enormously large, 

 resembling in their shape and proportionate size the 

 chxws of a lobster, while the hinder part of their 

 body, corresponding Avith the abdomen, is much pro- 

 longed, and composed of numerous joints, sometimes 

 ending in a sharp hooked point, which constitutes 

 their sting, and gives emission to their much-dreaded 

 venom. 



Scorpions usually lurk under stones, in ruined 

 buildings and caves, or other dark and damp situa- 

 tions, sometimes even in the interior of houses. 

 They run quickly, brandishing their tails over their 

 backs, and with this they kill beetles, locusts, and 

 other insects, which they catch by means of their 

 formidable pincers. The female scorpion produces 

 her young at different intervals ; she carries them on 

 her back during the first few 

 days of their existence, and 

 carefully watches over their 

 safety for upwards of a month, 

 when they become able to pro- 

 vide for their own subsistence. 



The third division of the 

 Arachnidans comprehends the 

 well-known race of Spiders, 

 equally remarkable for their 

 voracity and their cunning. 

 They are distinguished by 

 having their abdomen short 

 and globular, and by its being- 

 furnished near its posterior ter- 

 mination with a w^onderful ap- 

 paratus, by means of which 

 these animals manufacture 

 silken filaments applicable to a 



great variety of ])urposes and especially employed 

 in constructing what is usually named the Spider's 

 weh 



146. — NERVES rN SPIDEIi. 



