Remarks.—These most strange-looking Arachnids occur in warmer temperate, and tropical regions of Asia, Africa and America. Their anatomy has not been studied, as yet, by means of freshly-killed material, and is imperfectly known, though the presence of the coxal glands was determined by Macleod in 1884. The proportionately enormous chelae (chelicerae) of the first pair of appendages are not provided with poison glands; their bite is not venomous.
Fig. 66.—Galeodes sp., one of the Solifugae. Ventral view to show legs and somites. I to VI, The six leg-bearing somites of the prosoma. (From Lankester, “Limulus an Arachnid.”) |
Fig. 67.—Galeodes sp., one of the Solifugae. Ventral view with the appendages cut off at the base. I to VI, Prosomatic appendages. 2, Second opisthosomatic sternite covering the second pair of tracheal apertures sp1.
sp2, The third pair of tracheal apertures. (Original by Pickard-Cambridge and Pocock.) |
Fig. 68.—Galeodes sp., one of the Solifugae. Dorsal view. I to VI, Bases of the prosomatic appendages. o, Eyes. e, Third or hindermost plate of the prosoma beneath which the sixth pair of legs is articulated.
1, 2, 9, 10, First, second, ninth and tenth somites of the opisthosoma.
an, Anus.(Original.) |
Galeodes has been made the means of a comparison between the structure of the Arachnida and Hexapod insects by Haeckel and other writers, and it was at one time suggested that there was a genetic affinity between the two groups—through Galeodes, or extinct forms similar to it. The segmentation of the prosoma and the form of the appendages bear a homoplastic similarity to the head, pro-, meso-, and meta-thorax of a Hexapod with mandibles, maxillary palps and three pairs of walking legs; while the opisthosoma agrees in form and number of somites with the abdomen of a Hexapod, and the tracheal stigmata present certain agreements in the two cases. Reference to literature (36).
Fig. 69.—Galeodes sp., one of the Solifugae. |
I to VI, The six prosomatic | e, Third plate of the prosoma- |
limbs cut short. | carrying appendage VI. |
o, The eyes. | The prae-genital somite is |
b, c, Demarcated areae of the | absent. |
cephalic or first | 1, First somite of the |
prosomatic plate | opisthosoma. |
corresponding respectively | 2, Second do. |
to appendages I, II, III, | S, Prosomatic tracheal |
and to appendage IV (see | aperture between legs IV |
fig. 68). | and V. |
d, Second plate of the | S′ and S″, Opisthosomatic |
prosoma-carrying | tracheal apertures. |
appendage V. | 10, Tenth opisthosomatic |
somite. | |
an, Anus. |
(Original.)
Fig. 70.—Garypus litoralis, one of the Pseudoscorpiones. Ventral view. I to VI, Prosomatic appendages. 1, Sternite of the genital or first opisthosomatic somite; the prae-genital somite, though represented by a tergum, has no separate sternal plate.
2 and 3, Sternites of the second and third somites of the opisthosoma, each showing a tracheal stigma.
10 and 11, Sternites of the tenth and eleventh somites of the opisthosoma.
an, Anus.(Original by Pocock and Pickard-Cambridge.) |
Fig. 71.—Garypus litoralis, one of the Pseudoscorpiones. Dorsal view. I to VI, The prosomatic appendages. (Original.) |