2i6 Fdlconcr : Nolcs on Ifarvcsf-Spiilers. 



may be found ihrout^hoLit the year), in more or less concealment 

 amono^st moss, dead leaves, and debris, at the bases and roots of 

 j^rass and low veg^etation, on the foliasje and trunks of trees and 

 bushes, in wall crevices, on the inferior surface of projections, 

 and under stones. In these situations they find full scope for the 

 exercise of their carnivorous propensities, feedinj^ on the small 

 creatures (inclusive of the weaker and youni^er of their own 

 kind) which abound in such places. Beinj^ without spinning- 

 apparatus of any kind, they cannot weaxe webs to ensnare their 

 prey, and so ensure an easier and more certain capture ; and, as 

 their fang's are not connected with poison-gflands, they must, to 

 obtain a meal, overcome their victims by superior streng^th. 

 One of the larger Phalang;iids has been seen to capture and eat 

 an adult female ' wolf spider, an animal as larg^e as itself and 

 armed with more deadly weapons in the form of poison-injecting' 

 fang's.* On the other hand, there are times when their own 

 lives are in dangler, and then they adopt a remarkable expedient 

 (though not one peculiar to theni) to bafHe their enemies and 

 secure their own safety. Should they be held by one of their 

 long' leg's, they instantly and of their own volition throw off the 

 limb, which, being endowed with great nervous irritability, 

 begins and continues for a considerable length of time a series 

 of vigorous contortions which bewilder the assailant, fixing its 

 attention and giving the imperilled harvestman an opportunity 

 to hide in the nearest and most convenient retreat. In tiie use 

 of such a device for self preservation, they are equally gifted 

 with the slow worm, the common lizard, the spider, the crab 

 and the lobster, the reptiles throwing off their tails, the spider 

 its leg, and the crustaceans their claws in similar circum- 

 stances. In all these animals the discarded portions are sooner 

 or later replaced. It is, therefore, assumed, but the fact has not 

 been proved,! that a similar renewal takes place in the harvest- 

 men, to whom, however, the deprivation of a leg is apparently 

 no great loss, for they may frequently be seen speeding on their 

 way with any number short of the proper complenient down to 

 two (one on each side of the body), while the Re\ . |. G. Wood 

 mentions an example which had only one leg left, with which it 

 endeavoured to edge it.self along. { They are nol always the 

 victims of open violence ; foes of a more insidious iialurc and ol 



' lsi\. (). l'i< k.ird (\iml)ri(l)L;i's ' Urilish l'ii;ilaiij;'itica,' p. 5. 



■I' Ibid. 



% 'New Illiistralod .Xaliiial HisUiry," p. 751. 



Naturalist 



