Other Invertebrate-Animal Study 



473 



Beneath the palpi is a pair of jaws; these, in some species, extend 

 beyond the palpi. I have seen a daddy-longlegs hold food to his jaws 

 with his palpi and he seemed also to use them for stuffing it into his 

 mouth. 



The body of the daddy-longlegs is a little oblong object, looking more 

 like a big grain of wheat than anything else, because in these creatures the 

 head, thorax and abdomen are all grown together compactly. On top of 

 the body, between the feeler-legs, is a little black dot, and to the naked 

 eye it would seem that if this were an organ of sight the creature must be a 

 Cyclops with only one eye. But under the lens this is seen to be a raised 

 knob and there is on each side of it, a little shining black eye. We hardly 

 see the use of two eyes set so closely together, but probably the "daddy" 

 does. 



Grandfather-greybeard. 

 Comstock's Manual, 



The most entertaining thing which a "daddy" in captivity is likely to 

 do, is to clean his legs; he is very particular about his legs, and he will 

 grasp one close to the basal joint in his jaws and slowly pull it through, 

 meanwhile holding the leg up to the jaws with the palpi, while he indus- 

 triously nibbles it clean for the whole length to the very toe. Owing to 

 the likelihood of his losing one of his legs, he has the power of growing a 

 new one; so we often see a "daddy" with one or more legs only half 

 grown. 



There are many species of daddy-longlegs in the United States, and 

 some of them do not have the characteristic long legs. In the North, aU 

 except one species die at the approach of winter; but not until after the 

 female, which, by the way, ought to be called "granny-longlegs," has laid 

 her eggs in the ground, or under some protecting stone, or in some safe 

 crevice of wood or bark. In the spring the eggs hatch into tiny little 

 creatures which look just like the old daddy-longlegs, except for their size. 

 They get their growth Mke insects, by shedding their skins as fast as they 

 outgrow them. It is interesting to study one of these cast skins with a 

 lens. There it stands with a slit down its back, and with the skin of each 

 leg absolutely perfect to the tiny claw! Again we marvel at these legs 

 that seem so threadlike, and which have an outer covering that can bo 

 shed. Some say that the daddy-longlegs live on small insects which they 

 straddle over and pounce down upon, and some say they feed upon decay- 

 ing matter and vegetable juices. This would be an interesting line of 

 investigation for pupils, since they might be able to give many new facts 

 about the food of these creatures. The "daddies" are night prowlers, 

 and like to hide in crevices by day, waiting for the dark to hunt for their 

 food. They have several common names. Besides the two given they 



