380 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the thoracic limbs and the two lateral organs above the third pair were 
already large, and the embryo was folded in two halves. A very thick 
cuticle covered the embryo, and bore papilla) into which the ectodermic 
cells protruded ; the mesoderm was thickest in the dorsal median line 
where the heart appears ; the nervous system consisted of two distinct 
bands of nerve-cells ; the segmentation of the abdomen was very faint ; 
the endoderm was not yet a continuous layer ; a deep invagination above 
each chelicera formed the ganglion of the median eye. 
(3) In the third form the appendages were much longer ; the lateral 
organs still existed ; the cephalothorax was defined from the abdomen ; 
the ganglia were established ; the segmentation of the abdomen w'as 
marked only by lateral mesodermic buds; the mesoderm cells of the 
appendages were beginning to form muscle groups, and the somatic layer 
was distiuguishable from the splanchnic ; the oesophagus and rectum had 
not yet united with the slowly developing endoderm. 
Galeodidse.* — Mr. H. M. Bernard gives a very interesting account of 
the Galeodidae or “ wind-scorpions.” The popular name is translated 
from the Arabic, and refers to their swiftness of movement. One 
observer compares them to “ a piece of thistle-down driven before the 
wind.” They do not make webs like spiders, but “ run down ” various 
insects, even hard beetles. Some feed on scorpions, others are reported 
to hunt bed-bugs. Some are nocturnal, others “ run about the streets in 
broad daylight.” 
The jaws consist of a pair of stout pincers, projecting straight out 
in front, with sharp curved points, inner teeth, and external bristles. 
Size apart, they are the most horrible jaws in the whole animal kingdom. 
They are worked alternately in a sort of sawing motion, cutting deeper 
and deeper into the victim. 
The next pair of limbs, remarkable for their length, wave in the air 
as if to “ interrogate space,” and bear in an invagination at their tips a 
remarkable protrusible “ smelling ” organ, which some have mistaken for 
a sucker. The mouth is a very minute aperture at the end of a rigid 
beak, which has at its tip a lattice-like sieve of fringing bristles. Lich- 
tenstein has suggested that the “ mice ” and the “ emerods ” by which the 
Philistines were punished on a memorable occasion were respectively 
wind-scorpions and the sores caused by their bites. The fact seems to 
be that they only bite men accidentally, but if they bite, they bite badly. 
The German name for Galeodes is “ Gift-Kanker,” but no poison-glands 
are known. Perhaps the violent inflammation set up by the bite is due 
to exudation of (excretory) matter through the setal pores. It seems 
likely that the very varied bristles and hairs on the body, especially on 
the legs, are protective. 
The legs have long curved claws with movable tips. In some species 
there are stridulating ridges, different in character from the apparatus in 
spiders. The last pair of legs bear stalked fan-shaped sensory “ raquet ” 
organs, five on each. Like the pectines of the scorpion, they are pro- 
bably associated with reproductive processes. Mr. Bernard confirms 
Johannes Muller’s discredited observation that there are six eyes ; the 
lateral pairs are degenerate, and difficult to find. 
The female is said to attack and devour the male as soon as she has 
* Science Progress, i. (1897) pp. 317-43. 
