HARVEST SPIDERS 411 



ORDER II. : HARVEST SPIDERS (PHALANGINA). 



THE most familiar member of this order is the long-legged Harvest 

 Man (Phalangium parietinum). During the day this creature sits idly 

 on walls or under stones ; but in the night it leaps about in pursuit of 

 all kinds of small insects and spiders. It does not construct a net. 

 The mandibles terminate in small nippers (see crayfish) ; the abdomen 

 is indistinctly segmented, and united to the cephalo-thorax along its 

 whole breadth. 



ORDER III.: SCORPIONS (SCORPIONINA). 



THESE animals bear a much closer resemblance to a crayfish (which see) 

 than to a spider. Like the former, they possess an elongated body, walk 

 on four pairs of legs, while the large, leg-like, pincer-bearing pedipalpi 

 (chelae) bear some likeness to the fifth thoracic pair of legs of the 

 crayfish. The small mandibles (chelicerse) also have the form of 

 nippers. Having seized its prey (an insect or spider) by the help of 

 these prehensile instruments, the scorpion holds it aloft in order to 

 inflict its deadly poisonous sting. The stinging organ is situated at the 

 end of the abdomen, which, in order that the sting may be brought 

 over or even in front of the head, not only has to be very elongated (see 

 above), but also very flexible and movable. (Compare with earwig.) It 

 owes the last of these qualities to the fact that it consists of distinctly 

 separate rings, of which the seven anterior ones are broad, the six 

 posterior ones extremely narrow and freely moveable. Scorpions are 

 predaceous animals of nocturnal habits, and therefore dark colour. They 

 do not sting man except in self-defence, but are much detested on account 

 of their poisonous nature. The sting of the larger species inhabiting 

 tropical countries may even cause death. 



Even the Field Scorpion (Buthus occitanus) of Southern Europe, 

 which attains to the length of just over 3 inches, can inflict dangerous 

 stings. 



On the other hand, the sting of the House Scorpion (Scorpio 

 Europaus), also a native of Southern Europe, and about 1J inches 

 long, has no more serious effect than that of a wasp. 



ORDER IV. : BOOK-SCORPIONS (PSEUDO-SCORPIONINA). 



THESE animals are very similar to the true scorpions. The most familiar 

 member of the order is the Common Book-Scorpion (Chelifercancroides). 

 The rounded shape of the abdomen, which is only slightly movable, 

 harmonizes with the absence of a poison sting. The body is much 



