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8. J. MC INTIRE 



exhibited by the Chelifer. It is often seen to take fright and rrni 

 away from a lively, though perfectly harmless fellow captive ; and 

 in doing so it retreats hastily backwards, as if aware how defence- 

 less its abdomen is in case of an attack on that quarter. The im- 

 prisonment of an Obisium with a Cheliferhas always, in my expe- 

 rience, proved fatal to it. Sooner or later, it came within reach of 

 the Chelifer's claws, and yielded up its life to the grim tyrant. 

 Perhaps it does not deserve much pity, however, under the circum- 

 stances, for its treatment of young Podur* is exactly similar to 

 that which it receives at the claws of its relation. I thhik it finds 

 the adult Poduraj too active and too large to be conveniently 

 despatched, so it lets them alone, confining its attentions to the 

 very small ones, and to the Acari frequenting damp places, the 

 former insect being its staple food. 



In one specimen I have been able, though in other respects it 

 is very badly mounted, to get a glimpse of the structure of the 

 sucking apparatus. The mouth is a considerable- sized chamber. 

 Its exterior opening is rather small, but the entrance to the gullet 

 is furnished with an organ which acts like the piston and vahes of 

 a pump, to convey the fluids of the wounded Podura, held by the 

 falces at the entrance of the mouth, into the interior economy of 

 the Obisium. 



The Obisium chooses for its home a damp and dark situation, well 

 sheltered from cold. Usually, in warm weather, it takes up its 

 residence under a board or an old flower pot, but on cold days a 

 search in such localities is fruitless. I have, on these occasions, 

 had to seek it a foot or so deep in the rubbish where I get them, 

 and even then seldom with success, for it retires to the warmest 

 place it can find. When there is a dry cold wind, and during the 

 months of November, December, and January, it is particularly 

 scarce. My friend at Theale has been very successful in finding 

 this creature. Beneath boards and old castaway bungs of casks, 

 in one of his cellars, he frequently makes a capture, and says these 

 localities are favourite places of resort for the species. 



I have not yet had an opportunity of comparing the developement 

 of the young with that of the juvenile Chelifers, for the difficulty 

 of keeping specimens of either genus alive, in confinement, for a 

 few days, is even greater than that of finding them at first. 



The name " Book Scorpions" is applied to these creatures some- 

 what vaguely in the " Micrographic Dictionary." I say vaguely, 



