248 ORDER VII. Phalangium. 



flender, weak, and liable to be broken. Geof- 

 froy is of opinion, that thefe feet, when broken, 

 grow again like the claws of a crab, he having 

 once found a fpecimen with feven entire legs, 

 of the natural, or common length, and the 

 eighth much fhorter ; he is farther induced to 

 believe it, from the feeming analogy between the 

 Crab and the Phalangium : this matter is cu- 

 rious, and merits obfervation. 



The tarfi are compofed of a very great num- 

 ber of fhort articulations. 



The Phalangia are in general nocturnal ani- 

 mals, flying the light, and fearching for their 

 prey in the night time ; many of them devour 

 the Acari, Wood-lice, fpiders, &c. Some of 

 them live in the fea, attached to the bodies of the 

 larger aquatic animals *, others live in the trunks 

 of decayed trees. Their manner of copulation 

 and production is wholly unknown. 



Genus 



