Handbook of Medical EntomologyRiley, William A. (William Albert)
Science
Handbook of Medical Entomology
Riley, William A. (William Albert)
Insect pests; Insects as carriers of disease; Medical parasitology
The tailed whip-scorpions, belonging to the family Thelyphonidæ, are
represented in the United States by the giant whip-scorpion
_Mastigoproctus giganteus_ (fig. 10), which is common in Florida, Texas
and some other parts of the South. In Florida, it is locally known as
the "grampus" or "mule-killer" and is very greatly feared. There is no
evidence that these fears have any foundation, and Dr. Marx states that
there is neither a poison gland nor a pore in the claw of the
chelicera.
THE SCORPIONIDA, OR TRUE SCORPIONS
The true scorpions are widely distributed throughout warm countries and
everywhere bear an evil reputation. According to Comstock (1912), about
a score of species occur in the Southern United States. These are
comparatively small forms but in the tropics members of this group may
reach a length of seven or eight inches. They are pre-eminently
predaceous forms, which lie hidden during the day and seek their prey by
night.
[Illustration: 11. A true scorpion. After Comstock.]
The scorpions (fig. 11) possess large pedipalpi, terminated by strongly
developed claws, or chelæ. They may be distinguished from all other
Arachnids by the fact that the distinctly segmented abdomen is divided
into a broad basal region of seven segments and a terminal, slender,
tail-like division of five distinct segments.
The last segment of the abdomen, or telson, terminates in a
ventrally-directed, sharp spine, and contains a pair of highly developed
poison glands. These glands open by two small pores near the tip of the
spine. Most of the species when running carry the tip of the abdomen
bent upward over the back, and the prey, caught and held by the
pedipalpi, is stung by inserting the spine of the telson and allowing it
to remain for a time in the wound.
The glands themselves have been studied in _Prionurus citrinus_ by
Wilson (1904). He found that each gland is covered by a sheet of muscle
on its mesal and dorsal aspects, which may be described as the
_compressor muscle_. The muscle of each side is inserted by its edge
along the ventral inner surface of the chitinous wall of the telson,
close to the middle line, and by a broader insertion laterally. A layer
of fine connective tissue completely envelops each gland and forms the
basis upon which the secreting cells rest. The secreting epithelium is
columnar; and apparently of three different types of cells.
1. The most numerous have the appearance of mucous cells, resembling the
goblet cells of columnar mucous membranes. The nucleus, surrounded by a
small quantity of protoplasm staining with hæmatoxylin, lies close to
the base of the cell.
2. Cells present in considerable numbers, the peripheral portions of
which are filled with very numerous fine granules, staining with acid
dyes such as methyl orange.
3. Cells few in number, filled with very large granules, or irregular
masses of a substance staining with hæmatoxylin.
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