158 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



typical false-scorpion nests, little dust-covered blotches on the wood. 

 In subdued excitement I proceeded to open these with a pin, and in 

 the second nest opened I exposed an adult Cheiridiitm museorum 

 with her embryonic young attached to her under surface. On this 

 strip of wood were a hundred and seventy-three nests, with sixteen 

 more on the portion of the bunker-lid which it had covered. On 

 examining the two planks more carefully next morning I noticed a 

 number of dead specimens lying on the wood, and two brightly 

 coloured adults besides a few immature individuals moving among 

 the dust. By testing one of these live specimens I assured myself 

 that their sense of touch lies in the fine hairs of the great 

 nippers. 



On March 26, 1906, in breaking up an old chest brought by my 

 brother James from Smeaton, East Lothian, two days previously, I 

 discovered many nests of this species in the woodwork, and found 

 one colourless individual moving free. 



In September 1905 another important clue to this creature's 

 habits was obtained at Crail, Fifeshire. While a guest of Dr. Barbour 

 at Kirkmay House, I received a letter from Mr. Wallis Kew suggest- 

 ing a search for False-scorpions in stables, and, on September 9, George 

 Barbour and I visited the stable-loft to look for these creatures. 

 Almost at once George found two specimens of Cheiridium museorum 

 on a loose stone lying under the rafters, and in a very short time we 

 obtained fifty-five specimens. These were mainly found under the 

 thick layers of dust and cobwebs that covered stones and boards, 

 but a few were obtained by sifting the hay-seed. On subsequent 

 visits to the loft we discovered that Ch. museorum was common 

 among the hay-seed and the refuse in the loft corners. By shaking 

 this stuff over a stone, and blowing upon it, we saw many of 

 the tiny chestnut-coloured specks left behind on the stone. We 

 also saw the nests quite numerously on the wood as well as on 

 the stones ; in three of these we found live creatures, and in thirteen 

 of them we saw the cast-off moults. 



Following up this clue, I obtained a single dead specimen in 

 refuse from a flour-mill at Stravithie on September 25, 1905 ; and 

 five specimens at the farm of Newhouse, Dunbar, in May 1906, 

 four being on a piece of wood in a barn, and the fifth under a stone 

 in a shed. In April 1907, G. A. and R. B. Whyte informed me of 

 the extraordinary abundance of this species in the barns at Grange, 

 Keswick, and gave me full proof of their statement during a stay of 

 a few days with them in the locality. In hay-lofts and in barns the 

 species swarmed on dust-covered stones and old wood, as many as 

 sixty individuals being found on a single stone. On some of the 

 stones favoured by the False-scorpion there also occurred in abund- 

 ance a small Mite ; and each creature seemed, to a slight extent at 

 least, to be profiting from the other's presence. One Ch. museorum 



