156 Harvestmen and Pseudoscorpions of Yorkshire. 
THE PSEUDOSCORPIONS. 
Early in the 19th century, Dr. W. E. Leach in the ‘ Zoo- 
logical Miscellany,’ Vol. III., pp. 48-53 (1817), named and 
described the eight British species which came under his 
notice. Two of them have since been discovered to be identical 
with the older Chernes cimicoides Fabr., 1793, and their names 
have sunk into synonyms. In 1892. the Rev. O. Pickard 
Cambridge issued his ‘Monograph on the British Species of 
Chernetidea or False Scorpions,’ in the ‘ Proceedings of the 
Dorset N. H. and Antiq. Field Club,’ Vol. XIII., pp. 199-231 
(three plates), in which twenty species, two of them new to 
science, were described and figured. Subsequent discoveries 
necessitated the dropping of five of these from the British 
list, four being referred to other species already thereon, and 
one determined to be an introduction and not British at all. 
On the other hand seven species have been added, a net gain 
of two, giving a present total of twenty-two species. This 
great advance in our knowledge of the British pseudoscorpions 
is due to Mr. H. Wallis Kew, whose close and systematic study 
of these creatures, extending over a considerable number of 
years, has resulted in his excellent “Synopsis of the False 
Scorpions of Britain and Ireland,’ ‘ Proceedings of the Royal 
Irish Academy, ‘Feb; 1011, Vol: X XTX Section 1B owe 
pp. 38-64. 
Very few kinds of false scorpions are so abundant as to 
obtrude themselves upon one’s notice, and most are never seen 
unless special search is made for them in their obscure hiding 
places. Although they are more abundant in the south than 
further north, and are little sought after, fifteen species are 
now on record for the northern counties. Seven of these 
already alluded to but not by name, as being mainly southern 
(two being western) in their range, have occurred to the west 
of the Pennine Range in Lancashire (inclusive of Turness 
District). Two of the seven, Chernes godfreyi Kew, and 
Obistum manitimum Leach, have been met with also in Argyll- 
shire or Ross-shire, or both; a third, Chernes cancroides Linn. 
at Glasgow ; while a fourth, Chernes widert C. L. Koch, at 
Sherwood Forest, closely approaches*the southern border of © 
the county. Of the eight Yorkshire species, six have been 
recorded in The Naturalist at various times, one in the 
‘Transactions of the Hull Scientific and Field Natural- 
ists’ Club, rgo1,’ and one, Chernes dubius Camb. in the present 
paper (see p. 192). For the benefit of those who may 
undertake a much needed investigation, it may be well to 
indicate briefly here the kinds of habitat which will best repay 
research, and what means should be taken to secure examples 
of those pseudoscorpions, which, from their nearness to us, 
'Naturelist, 
