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Handbook of Nature-Study 



DADDY-LONGLEGS, OR GRANDFATHER GREYBEARD 



Teacher's Story 



WONDER if there ever was a country child who has 

 not grasped firmly the leg of one of these little 

 sprawling creatures and demanded: "Grandfather 

 Greybeard, tell me where the cows are or I'll kill 

 you," and Grandfather Greybeard, striving to get 

 away, puts out one of his long legs this way, and 

 another that way, and points in so many directions 

 that he usually saves his life, since the cows must be 

 somewhere. It would be more interesting to the 

 children and less embarrassing to the "daddy" if they were taught to look 

 more closely at those slender, hairlike legs. 



"Daddy's" long legs are seven jointed. The first segment is seemingly 

 soldered fast to the lower side of his body, and is called the coxa. The 

 next segment is a mere knob, usually black and ornamental, and is called 

 the trochanter. Then comes the femur, a rather long segment directed 

 upward; next is a short swollen segment — the "knee joint" or patella; 

 next the tibia, which is also rather long. Then comes the metatarsus and 

 tarsus, which seemingly make one long downward-directed segment, out- 

 curving at the tips, on which the "daddy" tip-toes along. 



I have seen a "daddy" walk into a drop of water and his foot was never 

 wetted, so light was his touch on the water surface film. The second pair 

 of legs is the longest; the fourth pair next, and the first pair usually the 

 shortest. The legs of the second pair are ordinarily used in exploring the 

 surroundings. Notice that, when the "daddy" is running, these two legs 

 are spread wide apart and keep in rapid motion ; their tips, far more sensi- 

 tive than any nerves of our own, tell him the nature of his surroundings, 

 by a touch so light that v/e cannot feel it on the hand. We have more 

 respect for one of these hairlike legs, when we know it is capable of trans- 

 mitting intelligence from its tip. 



The "daddy" is a good traveler and moves with remarkable rapidity. 

 And why not? If our legs were as long in comparison as his, they would 

 be about forty feet in length. When 

 the "daddy" is running, the body is 

 always held a little distance above the 

 ground; but when the second pair 

 of legs suggests to him that there 

 may be something good to eat in the 

 neighborhood, he commences a pecul- 

 iar teetering motion of the body, 

 apparently touching it to the ground 

 at every step; as the body is carried 

 tilted with the head down, this move- 

 ment enables the creature to explore 

 the surface below him with his palpi, which he ordinarily carries bent be- 

 neath his face, with the ends curled up under his "chin." The palpi have 

 four segments that are easily seen, and although they are ordinarily 

 carried bent up beneath the head, they can be extended out quite a dis- 

 tance if "daddy" wishes to test a substance. The end segment of the 

 palpus is tipped with a single claw. 



lateHn 



of "daddy's" long legs with 

 segments named. 



