424 ARACHNIDA—-SOLIFUGAE CHAP. 
first being carried aloft like the pedipalps, and used for feeling 
and manipulating the prey. 
There has been much controversy as to the poisonous pro- 
perties with which these creatures have been very widely credited 
by both ancient and modern writers. The people of Baku on 
the Caspian consider them especially poisonous after their winter 
sleep. The Russians of that region much dread the “ Falangas,” 
as they call them, and keep a Falanga preserved in oil as an 
antidote to the bite. The Somalis, on the other hand, have no 
fear of them, and, though familiar with these animals, have not 
thought them worthy of the dignity of a name. 
Several investigators have allowed themselves to be bitten 
without any special result. Some zoologists have found and 
described what they have taken to be poison-glands, but these 
appear to be the coxal glands, which have an excretory function. 
Bernard ' suggests that, if the bite be poisonous, the virus may 
exude from the numerous setal pores which are found on the 
extremities of the chelicerae. The cutting powers of the im- 
mensely-developed chelicerae are usually sufficient to ensure fatal 
results on small animals without the agency of poison. Distant,’ 
indeed, thinks they cannot be poisonous, for when birds attack 
them they flee before their assailants. 
The Solifugae require a tolerably warm climate. In Europe 
they are only found in Spain, Greece, and Southern Russia. 
They abound throughout Africa, and are found in South-Western 
Asia, the southern United States, and the north of South 
America. They appear to be absent from Australia, nor have 
any been found in Madagascar. Their usual food appears to be 
insects, though they devour lizards with avidity. Some interest- 
ing observations on their habits are recorded by Captain Hutton,’ 
who kept specimens in captivity in India. An imprisoned 
female made a burrow in the earth with which her cage was 
provided, and laid fifty egys, which hatched in a fortnight, 
but the young remained motionless for three weeks longer, when 
they underwent their first moult, and became active. 
A sparrow and musk rats were at different times placed in the 
cage, and were speedily killed, but not eaten. ‘Two specimens 
placed in the same cage tried to avoid each other, but, on coming 
1 Trans. Linn. Soc. (2), vi., 1896, p. 323. 2 Nature, xlvi., 1892, p. 247. 
3 Ann. Nat. Hist. (1), xii., 1848, p. 81. 
