THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 1G3 



TWO CANADIAN SPECIES OF PSEUDOSCORPIONS. 



BY EDV. ELLINGSEN, KRAGERO, NORWAY. 



I received last year (1907) from Dr. J, Fletcher, Ottawa, some 

 Canadian Pseudoscorpions for determination. The collection comprised 

 two forms, and these two species are, to my knowledge, the first Pseudo- 

 scorpions recorded from the Dominion of Canada. This is naturally 

 founded on the fact that these small, interesting animals have not been 

 collected by the entomologists. In the adjoining parts of the United 

 States, as in the States on the whole, there are many species, and even as 

 far north as Alaska a species has been taken. This should be of interest 

 if Canadian entomologists would draw their attention to these animals, and 

 they would certainly make many a fine capture. 



The Pseudoscorpions have much in common with the scorpions, 

 especially as regards the palpi, but they are animals of small size — the 

 giants among them are about 8 mm. long, — and they quite lack the tail 

 which is so characteristic of the true scorpions. The Pseudoscorpions are 

 to be found under bark of decayed trees, under stones and logs, among 

 mosses, etc ; some also live in buildings. Some species, especially 

 Chelifer cancroides, L., are true cosmopolites, as they are easily trans- 

 ported from place to place in goods and the like ; they are distributed 

 throughout all parts of the earth, very few in the polar tracts and in the 

 colder temperate regions, but in the warmer temperate tracts and in the 

 tropical parts of the earth they are abundant. The group of Pseudo- 

 scorpions is a small group, comprising about 400 species so far described, 

 but some of these will certainly, on further examination, fall into the 

 synonymy of the other species, or will be only 7iomma nuda. 



The two species mentioned above are the following : 



C/ieli/er ca?ic7'oides, L. 



Canada : Ottawa, 8 specimens, ^ and ^ , taken in buildings (J. 

 Fletcher). British Columbia : Kaslo, 2 $'s (J- W. Cockle). 



Ideobisium obscurum, Banks. 



British Columbia : Victoria, i specimen (A. W. Hanham). 

 The species is largely distributed in the western parts of the United 

 States, the States of Washington, Montana and California. 



May, 1908 



