THE FALSE-SCORPIONS OF SCOTLAND 159 



was carrying a Mite in its cheliceras ; and on the other hand, a living 

 Mite was occupying a discarded nest, in which the False-scorpion's 

 moult remained. Stones and wood were thickly dotted with the 

 minute nests of this False-scorpion. 



The nests vary in size from just over one millimetre to two 

 millimetres in diameter, and are formed of two thin layers of fine 

 silk, one of which is attached to the surface of the wood or stone, 

 and the second of which forms a hemispherical dome over the first. 

 In rare cases the nest is formed of silk only, but in most cases it is 

 covered with a coating of tiny particles of wood or of dust. The 

 nests are used for the various purposes of moulting, rearing young, 

 and resting (rather than hibernating). As already indicated, adult 

 females with their embryonic young attached have come under my 

 notice in the nest ; but in three of the nests on our bunker lid in 

 Edinburgh there were embryonic masses of five, four, and two young 

 respectively without any attendant adult. In no other False-scorpion's 

 nest had I found the eggs or the undeveloped young without their 

 parent, and I hesitated to put this fact on record without fuller 

 evidence. I noticed, however, that in the case of an adult carrying 

 four embryonic young, the larval mass was easily detached, and did 

 not therefore appear to be in any vital relation with the parent ; and 

 in April 1907, G. A. Whyte at Keswick made a further observation 

 on this point. He opened several nests, each of which contained 

 three colourless young individuals which had attained their definitive 

 form, but had no adult beside them. One such nest with its 

 three young he opened in my presence. And again on October 19, 

 1907, at Haswellsykes, Peebles, he confirmed his Keswick experience 

 by finding another nest of this species containing three young without 

 any adult. 



The number of young in this species varies from two to five. 



Ideoroncus eambridgii (L. Koch), 1873. 



So far as present Scottish records indicate, this species is 

 restricted to the west coast, but it is safe to say that its known 

 haunts afford us no exact estimate of the creature's range. The 

 first specimens, three in number, were obtained by myself in 

 a rocky wood at Barbreck on the shores of Loch Awe, June 30, 

 1900; they were living in the crannies of the rock under a thin 

 covering of earth and vegetation. A fourth Argyllshire specimen, 

 fully adult, and presented to me by its captor, was taken by Rev. 

 James Waterston on April 23, 1903, on the under side of a stone 

 deeply imbedded in the soil on the south-western slope of Ben 

 Cruachan. 



Since then, this species has been proved to be commonly 

 distributed along the west coast from the Kyle of Lochalsh to the 

 Solway Firth. At Balmacara, Ross-shire, Aird and Robert Whyte 



