Pseudoscorpions in the Claremont- 

 Laguna Reg"ion 



MARGARET M. MOLES 



Many individuals may be found in a certain vicinity. In the 

 valleys where oak and sycamore trees grow abundantly there can 

 be found as many as seventy-five on the lower trunk of one tree. 

 They are all of one or two species. In all the student collections 

 that have been carried on here in college for the last ten years 

 there have never been more than four or five species collected. 

 It was only through special collection that the other species were 

 found. Very few were found under stones, where they are so 

 often spoken of as living, and few were found among fallen leaves. 

 Some were collected in rotten poplar and pine logs. In the marshy 

 ground at Chino they were found under leaves and stones and were 

 very abundant on the poplar trees. 



The distribution of the pseudoscorpions extends from an altitude 

 of 5000 down to within ten feet of the ocean. 



Concerning their habits of living little can be found. Many 

 small spiders were found in their claws, also the small mites that 

 live underneath the bark of trees. Several experiments were tried 

 with some that were brought into the laboratory. The results 

 were: 



1. The pseudoscorpions would not go into Eucalyptus bark. 



2. They could not live in a glass dish if water was not placed 

 in it somewhere. If water was left out, they would dry up within 

 twenty-four hours. 



3. They avoided the sunlight and would go under cover. 



4. They would remain in one spot without moving for a day 

 at a time. 



Chelifer cancroides Linn 

 Description: Length — including mandibles, 3 mm.; pedipalps, 

 4 mm.; claw, 1.5 mm. Color — Pedipalps, dark reddish brown; 

 cephalothorax, dark reddish brown; abdomen, lighter than the 

 palps and cephalothorax; legs, light yellow brown. 



