If the hinged door of a trapdoor spider's burrow is 

 raised carefully, the spider may remain with her feet 

 clinging to the silken covering of the door; otherwise 

 she drops quickly down into her vertical burrow. 



The trapdoor fits the doorway perfectly, but the spider 

 usuallv builds its hideout where runoff rain water will 

 not flood over the doorway and soften it. (Florida. 

 Photographs by Andreas Feininger) 



among old papers. The abdomen of a pseudoscorpion 

 is broader than its cephalothorax. and it is clearly 

 segmented. 



Pseudoscorpions are amazingly systematic about 

 building nests, using these as places in which to molt, 

 hibernate, and raise young. The chelicerae secrete 

 silk needed to cement together sand grains and bits of 

 vegetable matter into stationary or movable pouches. 

 A bag of this sort carried about affixed to the moth- 

 er's body forms a brood pouch into which the eggs 

 are laid. They hatch there and the young remain in 

 the pouch, getting nourishment from glands upon the 

 mother's body, exposed to them through the opening 

 at the top of the pouch. 



HARVEST MEN 



An arachnid familiar to most people is the daddy 

 longlegs (see illustration on page 252) or harvest- 

 man spider (order Phalangida). Its body is small 

 and very compact, its bristle-slender legs tremen- 

 dously long. No one need fear to handle a harvest- 

 man, but a naturalist should be very gentle to save 

 the animal from losing a fragile leg or two. Only at 

 the next molt can it make good such a loss. 



If left to their own devices, harvestmen use the 

 second and longest pair of legs to explore the sur- 

 rounding territory before moving on. Apparently vi- 

 sion with the two eyes in a little tubercle on the back 

 is inadequate, and touch takes its place. Often a har- 

 vestman can be found standing quietly, waving these 

 sensitive legs in the air. Probably this habit has led 

 to the old bit of folklore which claims that a dairy 

 farmer can tell where to find his cows by watching 

 the direction in which a harvestman points. 



Phalangids have no venom and no silk glands. 

 They depend for food on mites, small spiders, tiny in- 

 sects, and other harvestmen. They deposit their eggs 

 in crevices or under stones, and ordinarily remain 

 solitary throughout the active months. During winter, 

 however, harvestmen often congregate by the dozens 

 or the hundreds. In the spring they can be found still 

 standing with their slender legs interlaced, even sway- 

 ing in unison as though dancing to music undiscerned 

 by human ears. 



TICKS AND MITES 



In man's economy, few arachnids rank higher in 

 importance than the mites and ticks. These members 



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