THE SPIDER AND ITS ALLIES 



93 



segmented and intimately joined with the cephalothorax. 1 

 Here belong the true scorpions, in which the posterior six 

 segments of the abdomen are much smaller in diameter 

 than the seven anterior segments, and form a sort of tail 

 (post-abdomen). Nearly 

 twenty species of scor- 

 pions occur in the 

 warmer parts of North 

 America. Centrums in- 

 famatus ranges from the 

 southern Atlantic States, 

 through Texas, and 

 north into southern Kan- 

 sas. The tip of the tail 

 bears a sting, which con- 

 nects with a poison -sac. 

 The largest scorpions 

 of the tropical countries 

 are the most dangerous, 

 but the wounds even of 

 these are rarely fatal. 



The Phalangina, 2 the 

 extremely common 

 "Daddy-long-legs," or 

 harvest-men, in which 



the legs are very long, FlG 9 i._ B uthus, a European scorpion. 



and the abdomen short Dorsal view. MX., maxillary; Cephth., 



i i T<U cephalothorax; Troch., trochanter ; Tars., 



and thick. 1 hey OCCUr tarsus . Abd ^ abdomen ; Bla., poison blad- 



about houses, ill woods, der ! St., sting. From Kraepelin in " Das 



, . , , rri^ Tierreich." 



and in fields. They 



feed on small insects and are highly beneficial animals to 

 1 Fig. 91. 2 <j>a\dyyiov, a spider, especially a poisonous species. 



