NEAR RELATIVES OF INSECTS. 235 



Phalangina — Harvestmen or Daddy Longlegs. 



These Arthropods may be recognized by their very 

 long legs, though some members of the class have mtich 

 shorter legs, while resembling the typical harvestmen 

 in the general body structure. The head and the thorax 

 are fused to form the cephalo-thorax, with hardly 

 perceptible segments or none at all. The harvestmen 

 have two simple eyes, and instead of these being placed 

 in the usual position as modified portions of the body 

 wall, they are placed on long tubercles near the middle 

 of the cephalo-thorax. The respiratory system opens 

 on the ventral surface of the body, just where the cephalo- 

 thorax and the abdomen join". 



Although these "Grandfather Graybeards," as they 

 are sometimes called, are so ^easily caught, they have a 

 means of protection in the ill-smelling fluid which they 

 eject when they are disturbed. This defense is effective 

 in the case of most birds. A bird has to be hard-pushed to 

 eat so ill-smelling a thing. They are not strictly nocturnal 

 in their habits, yet they avoid hunting ' in the broad 

 daylight. Instead of being unfriendly to their own kind, 

 as the true spiders are, several of these harvestmen may 

 frequently be seen close-gathered in some half-lighted 

 comer; and occasionally they seem to hunt in companies. 

 Their prey consists of small insects, especially the green 

 plant lice, which are such pests of garden plants. The 

 Phalangina are really beneficial Arthropoda, and little 

 children ought to be taught to protect them from harm. 



Solpugida — Jointed Spiders. 



These differ from all the other Arthropods, except 

 the insects, in having the head separate from the thorax, 

 and in having the thorax divided into the three familiar 



