2l8 



WHIP-SCORPIONS. 



cephalothorax is divided into two regions by the jointing of the carapace, the 

 region which corresponds to the posterior two pairs of legs having a small but 

 distinct tergal plate of its own. Moreover, the eyes are either absent or reduced 

 to a single pair, and the tail-piece, which is jointed to the last segment of the 

 abdomen, is short and undivided. There is a single family of this tribe, the 

 Schizonotidce, so-called on account of the jointing of the carapace. The family 

 contains two genera, Sckizonotus and Tripeltis, the species of which are pale- 

 coloured forms, less than quarter 

 of an inch in length, and con- 

 fined to Burma and Ceylon. 



The term Oxopoei, or acid- 

 producers, is applied to the 

 family Thelyphonidce, or whip- 

 scorpions, which differ from the 

 last in having the carapace 

 undivided, and the tail long, 

 thread-like, and many jointed. 

 The last three segments of the 

 abdomen, too, are very narrow, 

 forming a movable stalk for the 

 filiform tail, and on its last 

 segment there are generally 

 two, sometimes four, clear yellow 

 spots, the ommatoids. The eyes 

 are always well developed, two 

 of them being situated close to 

 the front edge of the carapace, 

 and the others, of which there 

 are eight or ten, arranged in two 

 clusters of three or five each at 

 the sides of the head, some 

 distance behind the front eyes. 

 The adult males differ from the 

 females in having longer and 

 often differently shaped pincers, 

 and also very generally in 

 having the first ventral plate of 



the abdomen larger and more swollen. The females of some genera (Thelyphonus, 

 Typopeltis), on the other hand, have the segments of the tarsus of the first pair 

 of legs peculiarly modified. 



Considering their antiquity and wide range, the whip-scorpions are strikingly 

 uniform in structure. The largest specimens, measuring about 4 inches in length, 

 have been met with in North-East India and Central and South America. All 

 the species seem to be nocturnal, spending the day hiding beneath stones, logs of 

 wood, etc., and, when surprised, hurrying away with considerable speed into any 

 holes or crevices that are handy. The Indian species require moist surroundings, 



FEMALE OP BOKNEAN WHiP-scoKPiON, Thelyphonus hosci (nat. size). 



