THE FALSE-SCORPIONS OF SCOTLAND 155 



THE FALSE-SCORPIONS OF SCOTLAND. 



By ROBERT GODFREY, M.A. 



( Continued from p. i oo. ) 



MODES OF DISTRIBUTION. 



THE various methods of distribution remain one of the 

 many interesting problems requiring investigation in this 

 group of creatures. Being destitute of wings, False-scorpions 

 lack the means of transit employed by many other creatures, 

 and, having no organs that can perform the function of wings, 

 they are forced to be to a great extent sedentary in their 

 habits, and any marked extension of their range must take 

 place with their passive concurrence rather than through 

 their active agency. 



Probably the wind plays an important part in the dis- 

 tribution of these creatures. This was first suggested to me 

 by an unusual action on the part of a ClitJionius rayi ; this 

 species when tampered with generally avoids smartly the 

 cause of annoyance, but, on the occasion referred to, the in- 

 dividual with which I was experimenting did not run off as 

 usual, but simply drew its pedipalps close to its fore-body, 

 and assuming as compact a position as possible, allowed me 

 even to roll it over, and led me to infer how readily it might, 

 in a listless position of this kind, be carried by the wind a 

 considerable distance. 



On a later occasion, March 31, 1904, I actually saw a 

 false-scorpion carried off by the wind. I had opened a 

 tenanted nest of CJithonius tetraclielatus, and was preparing 

 to examine the creature more carefully with my lens, when 

 to my chagrin I saw it in the motionless attitude which it 

 was still assuming gently caught up and carried away by 

 a gust of wind. 



In the case of our commonest species, Obisium muscorum, 

 there can be no doubt that it makes assisted passages from 

 one locality to another on leaves blown about by the wind. 



The method in which Chernes nodosns is carried on flies' 

 legs to new quarters shows how one species may accidentally 



