Text Book of Zoology

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ... (Scorpionidse) possess a more elongate body than the reat of the Arachnids. The cephalothorax, which is not constricted off from the abdomen, bears in the middle line, dorsally, two ocelli, and anteriorly on each side, a small group (two to five); the chelicera are short, strong chelae; the pedipalpi, which forcibly recall the large chelse of the Crayfish, are of considerable length (as long as, or longer, than the legs), and each is furnished with strong claws, the four pairs of legs are well developed. Of the thirteen abdominal segments, the last six are much narrower than the anterior, and form a very movable tail (post-abdomen), which the animal curls up over the rest of the body Bo as to carry it with the tip pointing forwards; this tip, the sting, bears the openings of two poison glands, which he in the anterior swollen portion of the terminal joint. The amis is situated in the membrane between the last and the penultimate somites. Anteriorly, on the ventral surface of the abdomen, just behind the legs, there arises a pair of flattened, unsegmented appendages (the pectines), the posterior edges of which are toothed; their significance is unknown. Close to them lies the genital aperture; on the broad portion of the abdomen (pre-abdomen) there are also, on the ventral surface, four pairs of slit-like stigmata, the openings of the same number of lung-sacs. The Scorpions are fairly large animals; they are viviparous, the young ones remain with the parent for the first few weeks, but the latter dies before long. They occur in the tropics and in the warmer regions of the temperate zones (two species in S. Europe). They remain in one place, feeding upon Insects and Arachnids, which they seize with their chelae, and kill by a stab of the...