CHAPTER XVII 



ARACHNIDA EMBOLOBRANCHIATA {cOXTINUED) PODOGONA 



PHALANGiDEA = OPILIONES HABITS STRUCTURE CLASSIFI- 

 CATION 



Order VII. Podogona (Ricinulei). 



Tracheate Arachnids with hvo-jointed chelate chelicerae and 

 prehensile pedipalpi. The tarsus of the third leg of the male hears 

 a cojnilatorT/ organ. 



In 1838 Guerin-Meneville^ described an Arachnid from 

 West Africa which he named Cryptostenima ivestermannii. At 

 rare intervals occasional specimens of allied forms have been 

 taken in the same region until 

 six species of Cryptostenima have 

 been established. In South 

 America, also, two unique ex- 

 amples of very similar creatures 

 are the only known representa- 

 tives of the two species of the 

 allied genus Cryptocellus. All 

 the examples hitherto found are 

 of fair size (between ^ inch and 

 ^ inch in length), and bear some 

 general, though superficial, resem- 

 blance to the Trogulidae, which 

 has led to their being placed 

 among the Phalangidea by almost 

 all the Arachnologists who have 

 noticed them. Their claim to this systematic position, however, 

 is extremely doubtful, and Hansen and Scirensen, who have had 

 the opportunity of studying the group much more minutely 

 1 lievue Zoolocjique ^jar la Society Cuvieriennc, {). 10. 

 439 



Fig. 228. — Cry^docellus simonis, x 4. 

 (After Hansen and Siirensen. ) 



