Reginald Innes Pocock

“ The long legs of harvest-men serve them not only as organs of rapid locomotion, but also as props to raise the body well off the ground, thus enabling the animals to stalk unmolested from the midst of an army of raiding ants. ”

“ The sexes pair in the autumn, and the female, by means of her ovipositor, lays her eggs in some cleft or hole in the soil and leaves them to their fate. After breeding, the parents die with the autumn cold; but the eggs retain their vitality through the winter and hatch with the warmth of spring and early summer, the young gradually attaining maturity as the latter season progresses. ”

“ Hence the prevalence of adult individuals in the late summer and autumn, and at no other time of the year. They are provided with a pair of glands, situated one on each side of the carapace, which secrete an evil-smelling fluid believed to be protective in nature. Harvest-men are very widely distributed and are especially abundant in temperate countries of the northern hemisphere. ”