BRITISH SPECIES OF PHALANGIDEA OR HARVEST MEN. 167 



insects, young * spiders, acarids, myriapods, and even the young of 

 their own kind ; on all of these I have myself observed them 

 feeding. They are said to be very thirsty creatures, imbibing 

 water greedily, but on this I have not myself made any observations. 

 They are also possessed of great nervous irritability, and have 

 power to throw off their exceedingly brittle slender legs when laid 

 hold of. The leg thus thrown off moves freely for, sometimes, 

 hours after separation from the body. It is probable that legs thus 

 separated may be renewed, as is the case with spiders, but I do not 

 believe it has been yet proved as a fact. Although some species 

 are very active yet many are slow and clumsy in their movements, 

 especially those species whose habitat is among moss and debris, 

 and which are seldom seen unless carefully searched for. It is 

 supposed that some groups, Trogulidce and Nemastomatidce, live 

 for several years, while the life of the Plialangiidce is restricted to 

 one season, but from what facts these conclusions are drawn I 

 know not. Various works, some of great importance, have been 

 written by foreign authors on the Phalangidea, beginning with 

 Linnceus. These need not be detailed here. M. Simon refers to 

 all of them in his work on the French (or practically European) 

 species "Arachnides de France," torn. 7, p. 133 et seq., 1879. 

 Two works only, so far as I know, have been published by English 

 authors that of N. Tulk on the Anatomy of Plialangium opilio, 

 Ann. and Mag. N. H. xii. p. 153 (1843), and a paper (to which 

 a short supplement was afterwards added) by R. H. Meade, 

 " Monograph on the British Species of Plialangiidce or Harvest 

 Men," Ann. and Mag. N. H., ser. 2, vol xv., pp. 393-416, pi. x. xi. 

 (1855). f The supplement was published in the 3rd ser. of that 

 Magazine, vol. vii., 1861, pp. 1-5 of the same Magazine. In these 

 Mr. Meade describes sixteen species, one of which, Plialangium canes- 



* Mr. G. C. Bignell, of Plymouth, has lately met with an example of 

 Liobunwn rotund-urn which had captured and was devouring an adult 

 female of a species of Lycosa. 



t To these may he added an account of the " Phalangidea" in Art. on 

 Arachnida, by O. P. Cambridge in Ed. ix. Encyclop. Brit., pp. 277-280, 

 1875. 



