316 
ARACHNIDKS. 
It is supposed that the ancients designated these animals by the 
names of Phalangium, Soli fug a Tetragnatha, (^-c. M. Poe dis- 
covered a species in the environs of Havanna, but the others are pecu- 
lar to the hot and sandy countries of the eastern continent (a). They 
run with great celerity, erect their head when surprised, and show 
signs of resistance ; they are considei'ed venemous *. 
Chelifer, Geoff . — Obisium, lllig . 
The palpi elongated, in the form of an arm. with a hand terminated 
by a didactyle forceps; all the legs equal, terminated by two hooks ; 
the eyes placed on the sides of the thorax. 
These animals resemble small Scorpions destitute of a tail. Their 
body is flattened, and the thorax nearly square, with one or two eyes 
on each side. 
They run SAviftly, and frequently retrograde or move sideways 
like Crabs. Rmsel saw one female lay her eggs and collect them 
into a heap. Hermann , Sen., says that she carries them under her 
abdomen, united in a pellet. He is even of the opinion that these 
Arachnides can spin. 
Hermann, Jun. — Mem. Apter. — divides this genus into two sec- 
tions. 
In some — Chelifer, Leach — the first segment of the trunk or 
thorax is divided by an impressed transverse line ; the tarsi consist of 
a single joint; there is a kind of stylet at the extremity of the 
moveable finger of the chelicer^, and the hairs of the body are 
shaped like a spatula. 
Ch. cancroides ; Phalangium cancroides, L. ; Scorpio can- 
croides. Fab.; Roes., Insect. HI, Supp. LXIV, vulgo Book-Scor- 
pion. Found in herbaria, old books, &c., where it feeds on the 
small insects that destroy them. 
Ch. cimicoides ; Scorpio cimicoides, Fab.; Herm., Mem. 
Apter., VII, 9. Inhabits under bark of trees, stones, &c. 
In others — Obisium, Leach — the thorax is entire, the chelicerae 
are destitute of a stylet, and the hairs on the body are setaceous f. 
A more important character however is found in the number of 
eyes. In Obisium it is four, and but two in Chelifer properly so 
called J. 
* Solpuga fafalis, Fab.; Herbst., Monog., Solp. I, i, Bengal; — S. chelicornis, 
Fab., Herbst. Ib. II, 1; — Phalangium araneaides, Pall., Spicil. Zool., fascic. IX, iii, 
7, 8, 9. See also the Monog. of this genus by Herbst., and the Voy. of Pallas and 
Olivier. 
•f- Herm., Mem. Apter., V, 6 ; VI, 14. 
J See Leach, Monog. of the Scorpions, Zool. Miscell. Ill, tab. 141, 142 ; and a 
memoir on the Insects found in copal by M. Dalman, where he describes and figures 
a species under the name of eucarpus, and mentions several others. 
Our author does not seem aware of the fact that two species of this genus 
havebeen discoveredby Mr. Say near the Rocky Mountains :they are, \.Gal. paUipes‘ 
Say. Hairy ; chelicerae horizontal ; fingers arcuated ; abdomen sub-depressed, 
livid. 2. Gal subulata, Id. Hairy ; cbelicerse horizonal; thumb nearly rectilinear and 
destitute of teeth ; resembles the pallipes in form, size and colour, but the superior 
finger of the chelicerse is unarmed and rectilinear, and the inferior arcuated with 
about t^vD stout teeth. Long’s Expedition, II, p. 3. — Eng. Ed. 
