Childhood summers were filled with adventure. Bravery was often challenged, and then proved, in the vegetable garden. Who was brave enough to let a grasshopper "spit" inside a closed fist? Who dared pick up the huge, squishy tomato worm, or the spiny horned lizard? And, of course, who could stay calm, and not wiggly, while a Daddy-long-legs ran up a bare arm or leg?

The Daddy-long-legs, or Harvestman, is an arachnid, not an insect, and is related to the spider. It is of the order Opiliones and is sometimes named Phalangida. It has long, delicate legs (up to 1.8 inches each), longer and thinner than the legs of the true spider. Its two eyes are on a median knob. The body is small (0.04 to 0.9 inch) and round or oval, and is not sectioned. Some adult harvestmen are said to give off a bad odor when disturbed, but I personally have never come across one that could give off an odor.

This arachnid can be found in temperate and tropical climates worldwide. They are usually sighted in late summer in fields and on sunny walls. Daddy-long-legs will eat dead vegetable and animal matter, small insects, spiders, and mites. Their eggs are laid in the autumn in a small crack in the soil, and will hatch the following spring.