450 



ARACHNIDA PHALANGIDEA 



Fig. 235. — Sdernsoma quadridentatum. 

 (After Pickard-Caiiibridge.) 



Two species of Sclerosoma are found in England, S. quadri- 

 dentatum occurring not uncommonly among moss or under 



stones in various parts of the 

 country. Its back is studded 

 with wart-like tubercles, which 

 give it a characteristic " appear- 

 ance. 



The Phalangiinae are soft- 

 bodied Harvestmen, always with 

 long legs, which in the genus 

 Liohunum attain an inordinate 

 length. There are nine European 

 genera, Liohunuvi, Prosalpiu, 

 Gyas, Oligolophus, Acantholo- 

 2ihus, Phalangiiun , Dasylohus, 

 Platyhunus, and Megahunus, 

 comprising in all about fifty 

 species. Five of these genera are represented in England. 



The familiar Phalangids, with small, almost spherical bodies 

 and ridiculously long legs, belong to the genus Liohunuvi, L. 

 rotundum being the common species. It is mature in autumn, 

 when it may be seen scampering at a great pace amoug the 

 herbage. It very readily parts with its limbs, and Pickard- 

 Cambridge ^ relates that he once " saw one running with 

 very fair speed and facility, having lost all but two legs, 

 an anterior one on one side and a posterior one on the 

 other." 



The Harvestmen so frequently seen on walls belong, as a rule, 

 to the genus Phalangium. The best known example is Phalangium 

 opilio (the P. cornutum of Linnaeus), the male of which possesses 

 a remarkable development of the chelicerae. 



The genus Oligolophus is well represented in this country, nine 

 species having been recorded. They do not differ greatly from 

 Phalangium, but have, as a rule, more massive bodies, and rather 

 stout, though tolerably long legs. The largest English Harvest- 

 man, not rare under stones at Cambridge, is 0. spinosus, whose 

 ])ody measures half an inch in length. 0. agrestis is perhaps the 

 commonest British Phalangid, and is abundant in woods and 

 among herbage, and on low trees. 



^ Monograph of the British Phalangidca, Dorchester, 1890. 



