FALSE-SCORPIONS 111 



and looks like a minute mushroom, its stalk joined to the oviduct, 

 and the eggs are laid into it. Their number may vary from five to 

 forty or more. After a few days the young escape from the egg- 

 membrane but stay inside the brood-sac. 



These first larvae have a sucking beak and remain attached to the 

 genital orifice of the female through which they are fed on a kind 

 of uterine milk secreted by the transformed ovaries of the mother, 

 whose abdomen gradually shrinks as the larvae grow. They swell 

 so much that Vachon describes them as 'larvae gonflees' and the 

 brood-mass becomes more bulky than the mother's body whence 

 it projects broadly on each side and often also posteriorly. By 

 degrees and without much further increase in size these deutem- 

 bryos complete their development. Behind the old larval structures 

 the chelicerae appear anteriorly and wide apart while dorsally the 

 abdominal segments with their setae become distinct. Laterally 

 and ventrally the palps and legs become clearly differentiated. 

 Four or five weeks after the extrusion of the eggs some power of 

 movement is attained and the young emerge from the brood-mass, 

 the debris of which remains attached to their mother. 



The young, or protonymphs, emerge within about a day. In 

 some species such as Garypus minor and the British Chthonius 

 ischnocheles, Neobisium carpenteri, N. maritimum, N. muscorum^ 

 Toxochernes panzeri^ C hemes cimicoides and Dendrochernes cyrneus, 

 20 or more young are produced, in Chelifer cancroideSy 7 to 39, but 

 the families of the smaller Cheiridium museorum number only 2 to 5 

 individuals. 



In some species the protonymphs ride on their mothers' backs 

 like young scorpions and wolf spiders, but they are active, greedy 

 little creatures and soon disperse. 



When young pseudoscorpions emerge from the brood-mass they 

 resemble miniature copies of their parents. They moult three times 

 only, for which purpose they usually enclose themselves in moult- 

 ing nests, before reaching the adult stage. During this time they 

 increase their length by about one and a half times, the special 

 structures of the chelicerae develop and the number of hairs with 

 which the body is covered increases considerably. A period of 

 quiescence lasting some ten to fifteen days precedes the actual 

 moulting process and the animals do not leave their nests until 



