March, 1906.] A Pseudoscorpionfrom Guatemala. 489 



A PSEUDOSCORPION FROM GUATEMALA. 



E. W. Berger, Ph. D. 



This Pseudoscorpion was collected by Professor James S. 

 Hine just to the west of Gualan, Guatemala, January 15, 1905. 

 The writer has identified the same as Atemnus elongatus, Bks. 

 Mr. Banks sums up its (I, 1895) occurrence in the following 

 lines: "Beaten from dead hickory wood in April near St. Lucie 

 Riv., Indian River, Florida, by Mr. Hubbard; also at Sand 

 Point and Enterprise, Fla., Punta Gorda, Fla., (Mrs. Slosson). 

 A young specimen taken by myself at Rtmnemede, Fla., ma}^ 

 belong to this species;" etc. To this should, of course, now be 

 added Gualan, Guatemala. The chief interest to me of this find 

 is, that it is another instance illustrating the extended north and 

 south distribution of certain species of the Pseudoscorpionidae. 

 In a previous paper (II) I made note of the fact that many 

 species have a far north and south distribution, but not a very 

 extensive one east and west. Thus none of the native eastern 

 species were found to occur upon the Pacific Coast, and vice 

 versa, while several of the species in the Eastern States are 

 reported from Jamaica (II) to New York, and no doubt will be 

 found farther north. For illustration I mention Chelanops 

 oblongus, Say, and Chthonius pennsylvanicus, Hagen, each of 

 which have the distribution mentioned. 



The Atemnus elongatus was found to the east of the highlands 

 of Guatemala, but whether it occurs to the west of these Pro- 

 fessor Hine did not determine. 



The specimens were collected from under the dead bark of an 

 inclined tree, the under half of which was still alive. The 

 animals were found in groups of a dozen, more or less, and 

 apparently very much involved in some threads of silk, pre- 

 sumably of their spinning. This was also the condition of the 

 preserved specimens. I was surprised at the manner in which 

 these were tangled up into a bunch with threads of silk, until 

 Professor Hine explained to me the condition in which he had 

 found them. The significance of this condition I do not tmder- 

 stand. It occurs to me that they may have been in some con- 

 dition of rest for the season, which is dry at that period of the 

 year. The animals, however, were not torpid and scattered 

 when disturbed and this manner of congregating in groups may 

 be nothing more than a regular habit. The fact, however, that 

 several other species of larger arthropods were observed con- 

 gregated into groups, literally by the hundred, seemingly in 

 some condition of rest approximating hibernation, makes the 

 belief, that the pseudoscorpions were in a similar condition, not 



