246 



HAPDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Nov. 1, 1S69. 



ces, very much like those of the tropical spider 

 Oaleodes* The mouth is beneath these, and a for- 



Fig. 214. Hairs from a Chelifer, x 250 (from Theale). 



©= 



Fig. 215. Hair of Chelifer, x 100 

 (from London). 



.216. Hairs from falces 

 of Obisium, x 100. 



are 



midable sucking apparatus it is. The nippers 

 furnished with several long hairs, which seem 

 to answer the same purpose as the whiskers in 

 the Eelidos, for they are sensitive to touch in 

 a high degree. As it is necessary to keep these 

 clean in order to ensure their utility, the 

 Pseudoscorpion is continually passing them 

 through the mandibles, where there is a comb- 

 like structure, and sometimes two, eminently 

 calculated to fulfil that purpose. The feet are 

 furnished with tenent hairs (figs. 217, 218)- 

 In colour there is much variety, but chestnut- 

 brown tints prevail in all the species. 



Chelifers have two eyes, and the cephalo- 

 thorax is divided by a cross-groove. The ab- 

 domen is generally flattened out somewhat 

 like that of the bed bug, consists of rings, 

 and is not nearly so well defended by chitonous 

 armour as the cephalothorax. 



Obisia have four eyes and the cephalo- 

 thorax is entire. The abdomen'; is more 

 cylindrical than that of Chelifer, and the 

 rings are not so conspicuous. The nippers are long, 

 and in most cases, but not in all, slender, and the 



Eive species of Chelifers have been brought under 

 my notice. The first of these was found in con- 

 siderable abundance in a brewery at Theale, Berks, 

 by P. Blatch, Esq., inhabiting the dark corners of 

 the ale-store. It is, I think, C. Latreillei, but I am 

 not sure. The colour, as with most of these crea- 

 tures, is reddish-brown, and the margins of the ab- 

 dominal segments on the dorsal surface are orna- 

 mented with very curious compound bristles. It 

 fed on Podurse (fig. 212). 



Another species was found by the same friend in 

 an old willow-stump, also feeding on Poduroe. This 

 may have been C. cancroides. 



A third was sent me from Devizes, by J. J. Fox, 

 Esq. It was captured attached to a fly. A similar 

 circumstance is recorded in Science-Gossip already 

 (1865, page 227). Whether it had fastened itself 

 on in order to change its lodgings or to make a 

 meal of the fly, I cannot say. 



I have noticed that when C. Latreillei is angry, 

 if a camel's hair pencil be presented to it, the brush 



Fig. 21". Foot of Obisium, x 100, with tenent hairs. 



Fig. 218. Foot of Chelifer, x 100. 



chitonous envelope, in no place remarkably strong, is 

 noticeably thicker all down the back than elsewhere. 



* The Rev. J. G. Wood compares them to scorpions, minus 

 the tail: a very good comparison. 



Fig. 219. Obisium orthodactylum, x 25. 



will be readily seized, and the little fellow may'.be 

 carried some distance ere he will let go.* 



A fourth species I found under an earthern pan 

 in London. It presented certain characteristics 

 showing its relationship with Obisium, especially 

 the marine species alluded to below. W. W. Peeves, 

 E.B.M.S., on one occasion showed me several 

 specimens of this kind that he obtained from a 

 brewery at Deptford. 



A fifth, a pretty little creature of bright sienna- 

 colour, was sent me by P. T. Lewis, F.R.M.S. He 

 found several individuals in a parcel of goods from 

 the Continent. 



* Mr. Fox also tells me he found nearly a hundred in an old 

 cucumber frame on one occasion. Sir John Lubbock states 

 that the specimens he examined were obtained from the 

 icinity of hotbeds in his kitchen garden. 



