Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/299

Rh l HAL-A_N GIDS.] ARACHNID A 279 the longest legs exceeds fifty lines ; being in the proportion of about 1 to 32. Phalangids part easily with their legs, or with portions of them ; and when detached these legs retain the power of motion for a considerable time, due probably to sustained nervous energy. The order may be divided into about four well-marked families. Fam. I. Cyphophthalmidcs. Characterised by an oval, flattened body, short legs, with undivided tarsi ; falces projecting far in front of the fore part of the capur, and three-jointed (Joseph). Eyes on pedicles, one on each side of the cephalo-thorax near the lateral margin. 1 One genus only, Cyphophthalmus (Joseph), and two species, C. duricorius (Joseph), and C. corsicus (Simon), have as yet been discovered, both of very small size, and both South European. They have an exceedingly acaridiau appearance, and seem evidently to connect the aearids with the more typical Phalangidea. See G. Joseph (Bcrl. Ent. Zcitschr. 1868, pp. 241-250 and 269-272), who speaks of but two tracheal stigmata ; probably the thoracic stigmata were overlooked. The form of the maxillae appears to be peculiar. Fam. II. Trocjulides. Somewhat similar in general appearance to the former family, but differing in the parts of the mouth being con cealed beneath a kind of hood, which projects beyond the fore margin of the cephalo-thorax ; and in the eyes, which are placed, well separated, in a transverse line at the constriction, where the hood joins the caput. Two genera, 2 Cryptostemma (Guerin) and Trogulus ~alck.), have been characterised; of the former one species only i.j yet known. C. JVcstcrmanni (Guer.), Guinea. Of the latter genus the species are few, and little appears to be known of their habits or economy; one only, of small size, Trogulus Canibridgii (Westwood 3 ), lias been found in England (at Blcxworth, among moss, by the Rev. 0. P. Cambridge), remarkable from the dense clothing of short srjuamose hairs on the body, and hooked spine-like bristly hairs on the legs. Fam. III. Phalangidcs (figs. 10, 11). Characterised by their small, Fio. 10. Phalangium Coptic urn, Savigny. a, a, faleex ; t&amp;gt;, eyes; e, CPpTwlo-thorax; d, abdomen; e, e, palpi ; /, junctional line of cephalo-thorax and abdomen. round, oblong, or oval body ; exceedingly long, slender legs, with multi-articulate tarsi ; eyes close together, one on each side of a tuberculous eminence on the vertex of the cephalo-thorax (fig. 12, a) ; the eminence, as well as other parts of the body, often armed with 1 Since the above was written, Professor Westwood has founded a new genus Stylocellus on S. sumatranns (&quot;Westw.) Thesaurus Eniomologicus Oxoniensis, Oxford, 1874, p. 200, plate 37, fig. 7. - Professor Westwood (I.e. p. 201) separates Cryptostemma, and (with Cryptocellus, a new genus founded on C. fcudus, Amazons, I.e. fig. 5) forms a new family CRYrrosTEinnDL s, between Cyphophthal- mides and Trogulides. 1 L.c., p. 202, fig. 6. spines. Falces (fig. 13) often of great size and length, the terminal joint articulated sometimes at its end, sometimes further on. Several genera of this family have been characterised, and numerous species recorded, mostly European, but our space will not permit of further details, which may be found in the work of Hermann before noted, FIG. 11. Phalangium agyptiacum, Savigny; under side, with legs and palp; trun cated, and without abdomen, a, a, palpi- 6, 6, maxilla;; c, tongue ; d...d, flrat joints of legs;, e, /, /, supernumerary maxilla?, supporting first two pairs of legs, and used in eating (?) ; &amp;lt;/, membranous lip (labium) ; k, sternal plata (sternum); m, fore-margin of sternal plate, under which (at *) are sexual organs. under Acaridca; also in those of Latreille, Sur THistoire des Insectcs connus sous le nom de Faucheurs (Phalangium) (pub. 1802), and FIQ. 12. ITarvest-man (Phalanyium cornutum, Linn.) ; profile, with legs and palpi truncated, a, eye eminence; 6, falces, f, portion of mouth apparatus d, sheath of penis protruded ; e, penis ; /, the glans. Herbst ; in Natursystem der ungefliigclten Inscktcn, 1798- 99 ; P. Gervais, in Walck. In-s. Apt., vol. iii. p. 94 ; and Koch, in Die A rachni- den, 1831-1848; and in numerous iso lated papers by various later authors. Most of the anatomical details known of the order Phalangidea have been obtained from species of this family. Fam. IV. Gonyleptides. This dif fers from the last in the generally more or less quadrangular form, or roughly diamond shape ; the cephalo-thorax is proportionally larger, often appear- _, l i- i ? i i 4.1 FIG. 13. Falces and palpi of Pha- ing almost entirely to overwhelm the i an gium eopAcvm, abdomen; it is also more spinous and tuberculous; the palpi are longer, some joints often of great strength and length, and armed with strong spines, sometimes assuming, with the strong terminal movable claw, a raptorial appearance. The legs are shorter and stronger, and those of the hinder pair are usually armed with spiny processes, tubercles, and spines ; the coxal joints being often inordinately developed, reaching to the extremity of the abdomen, to which, as well as to the cephalo-thorax, they are im movably attached. The tarsi are not multi-articulate. The species species, has been published by Mr A. G. Butler, in Ann. and Mag. N. H., Feb. 1873, pp. 112, 117, pi. 3., continued in Jour. Linn. Soc. 1874, vol. xii. pp. 151-155, pi. 8. Some of the works quoted on Phalangides also treat of this family. H. C. Wood, jun., considers the order generally in Trans. Arncr. Phil Soc., U.S., vol. xiii. pp. 435-442, pi, 24.