90 
Guide to Arachnida. 
Table-case 
No. 21. 
The Amblypygi were represented in the Carboniferous period 
by the genus Graeophonus. At the present time they are confined 
to the warmer parts of Africa, Asia and America, the largest 
species, which belong to the genera Damon and Heterophrynus, 
being met with in the tropical forests of West Africa and Brazil. 
By the flatness, of the body and by the lateral projection of the legs, 
they are admirably fitted for living under stones and the loosened 
bark of fallen trees or in the crevices of rocks. The Amblypygi of 
the section Charontinae live in caverns. The feeding and breeding 
habits of the Pedipalps of this sub-order are similar to those of the 
Whip-scorpions. 
There is a single family Tarantulidae, with ten genera, none 
of which are very numerous in species. 
Order 3.— Palpigradi. 
A carapace, which is divided into three segments (the large 
anterior one of which represents the terga of the first four somites), 
covers the cephalothorax (prosoma) in the 
Palpigradi. The appendages of the first pair 
are large, chelate and three- jointed ; those 
of the second slender, like the remaining pairs, 
and armed with three claws. A narrow waist 
separates the cephalothorax and abdomen 
(opisthosoma) from one another. There are 
ten abdominal somites, which are not divided 
into dorsal and ventral plates, and the last 
three of them are narrowed to form a flexible 
support for the long many-jointed post-anal 
flagellum. Bespiratory organs are absent. 
These interesting Arachnids were first dis- 
covered by Professor Grassi, who described 
and figured an Italian species in the year 
1885. They are minute creatures, usually 
measuring less than two millimetres, or 
barely one-twelfth of an inch in length. All 
the known species belong to the genus Koenenia, which has been 
discovered in South Europe, Tunis, Siam, Texas, Chile and 
Paraguay. They are blind, practically colourless animals, living 
in damp earth or under moist leaves, under stones, or in caves. 
Several drawings of Koenenia mirabilis are on view T in Table- 
case 21. 
Fig. 59. 
Koenenia mirabilis 
(magnified). 
