THE FALSE-SCORPIONS OF SCOTLAND 23 



I may say that on June 14, 1904, I saw a Chernes on the 

 wooden label of a flower-pot in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. I 

 thought I had inserted the creature carefully in a tube, but I could 

 not afterwards find it, and without microscopic examination I cannot 

 tell what the species may have been. 



Chernes dubius, Cambridge, 1892 {—Chelifer tidlgreni, Strand). 



At the time of the publication of Cambridge's " Monograph," 

 1892, this species was known from two specimens only, and its 

 name implied Cambridge's hesitation in allotting it specific rank, 

 but the obtaining of further material has abundantly justified the 

 correctness of his decision in marking it off from allied forms as a 

 distinct species. 



On April 12, 1901, I found the first Scottish example, but I 

 could not authoritatively place it under this name till January 1907. 

 I erroneously recorded the species in the " Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History," 1901, as Simon's CJurnes phalei-atuSy a form that 

 has not yet occurred in Scotland. 



Chernes dubius is an abundant species in the " Forth " area. Its 

 main haunts are close to the sea, under stones a few yards from 

 high-water mark, but it occurs inland also on rocky patches of 

 ground which preserve to some extent their natural condition. In 

 West Lothian, where I first found it, the haunt is under stones 

 deeply embedded in the soil on the Bonnytoun hills near the farm of 

 Northbank ; a single immature specimen was also taken in another 

 locality near Northbank fromapiece of rock tightlyembedded intheface 

 of a disused quarry. In East Lothian it occurs on North Berwick 

 Law, where I took five under a stone on May 19, 1903 ; and in Fife 

 also, to the west of Aberdour, where during 1902-3, I found thirty- 

 nine specimens, I took the first under large stones firmly buried in 

 the soil on rocky ground left in a natural state. Further search at 

 Aberdour revealed the stronghold of the species to be just above the 

 tide-mark, not only under deep stones, but also under very small 

 stones from just over an inch broad, and even on the sand under a 

 stone. To the east of Crail, and also at a headland near Cambo in 

 the " Tay " area, I discovered this species commonly in September 

 1905, on natural ground within a short distance of the sea. 



Outside of the " Forth " and the "Tay" areas this species (in 

 Scotland) has been detected only in Ross-shire, where Robert 

 Whyte obtained two on a piece of drift-wood lying on the shore 

 near Balmacara House on August 27, 1906. Under the same beam 

 were Ideoroncus cainbridgii and Chthonius rayi. 



Chernes dubius — measuring from 1*5 to 2 millimetres in its 

 adult state — has deep red-brown palpi and a yellowish upper surface 

 which darkens with age. Its colours harmonise well with its home, 

 and, although it is quite conspicuous when once detected, it may 



