WHIP-SCORPIONS. 
219 
being generally only found during the heaviest rains, and soon dying when removed 
from their humid haunts. In Florida there is, however, a species frequenting dry 
sandy localities; and some species dig burrows in the ground and use them as 
Tailless Group. 
permanent places of abode. 
In the tailless group, or Amblypygi, the body is much flattened, 
the carapace being wider than long, and kidney-shaped, and the 
abdomen oval with the segments gradually decreasing in size in front and behind, 
and none at the hinder end being narrowed to form a stalk. Corresponding with 
the great width of the carapace, we find the coxae of the third and fourth pairs of 
legs widely separated, so that there is an oval sternal area, around which the coxae 
of the five pairs of large cephalothoracic limbs are arranged radially. The anterior 
A west African tailless whip-scorpion, Titanodamen johnstoni (nat. size). 
and posterior sternal pieces of the preceding suborder are present between the coxae of 
the first and last pair of legs respectively, and the space between them is filled by 
horny pieces, varying in the degree of their development. The appendages also 
differ from those of the Uropygi, the basal segments of the pincers being freely 
movable and not united together, while these appendages are longer, thinner, and 
very spiny. The terminal segment forms a sharp claw, closing back on the pen¬ 
ultimate segment like the blade of a knife. The legs of the first pair are long and 
slender, and all its segments, except the first three, are converted into a long, 
thread-like, many-jointed lash acting as a feeler. The males do not as a rule differ 
strikingly in external characters from the females; although the abdomen is 
narrower, and the pincers and legs are longer. 
In geographical distribution the group resembles the Thelyphonidce , with the 
