204 



Kew : Lincolnshire Pseudoscorpions. 



nodosus, occurred to him under these conditions.* But the 

 experience of Simon in France is in agreement with that of 

 Koch. All the European Pseudoscorpions found on flies' leg's 

 by Simon and by his correspondent Mr. Ray, of Troyes, proved 

 to be Chernes nodosus \\ and .Mr. Cambridge, in England, who 

 does not mention the finding of any other species thus situated, 

 states that all, or nearly all, of the individuals of Cher?ies nodosus 

 communicated to him from different parts of the country were 

 obtained from the legs of flies. % To this species, moreover, 

 Simon is inclined to refer the Acarus cancroides L. of Poda, and 

 the Chelifer parasita Hermann. In America, also, the fly- 

 infesting species appear to be chiefly Chernes, and we have 

 noted in this connection Chernes sanborni Hagen, Chernes 

 pallipes Banks, etc. Those found on legs of harvest-men have 

 not been critically examined ; but that discovered on an Orthop- 

 teron was, as we have seen, Chernes cavicola Joseph. We have 

 already quoted the opinion of Hagen that the Pseudoscorpions 

 associating with beetles are mainly Chernes, and of those which 

 have been named we have Chernes alius Leidy and Chernes 

 argentinus Thorell. 



The meaning of the phenomena now detailed has been much 

 discussed ; but it was admitted by Simon in '1879 that no satis- 

 factory explanation had been given. J. S., who sent a Pseudo- 

 scorpion and fly to 'The Entomologist' in 1875, asking the 

 name of the animal, and the object of its aerial journey, would 

 hardly be satisfied with Mr. Newman's reply:, 



The first question is easily answered ; the second is a problem more 

 difficult of solution. The insect is Chelifer cancroides. I once found it in 

 vast numbers under the bark of a willow tree on the banks of the New 

 River. . . . Still we have to deal with its strange propensity to settle 

 itself on the leg's of flies. It is, of course, very natural to suppose that 

 these flies, having- a decided weakness for settling on the trunks of willows, 

 and that these scorpion-like creatures, having a similar weakness for 

 the toes of a fly, should fix themselves thereupon ; still there is something 

 that requires explanation.il 



According to one view the Pseudoscorpion is parasitic, and 

 according to another it is predaceous. But the creature, com- 

 pared with the insects to which it is found attached, seems too 

 large to be a parasite and too small to be an animal of prey — 

 Chernes nodosus is 2*5 mm. or slightly over one line in length — 



* A. Stecker, Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift, XIX. (1875), p. .314. 

 ' f Simon, I.e. 

 X Cambridge, 1885, I.e., 1892, I.e. 

 ii Newman, I.e. 



Naturalist, 



