206 



Kew : Lincolnshire Pseudoscorpions . 



accustomed to use the great pedipalps for seizing- objects of 

 various kinds, * and for attack and defence. They are exceed- 

 ingly pugnacious, and when annoyed they brandish the pedipalps 

 and open and shut the pincers in a ferocious, even ludicrous, 

 •manner. They are apt, moreover, to assume a condition of 

 blind rage, and at such times they will grasp with the pincers 

 any small .object which opposes them. Mr. MTntire, offering 

 a camel's hair pencil to an angry Chelifer, found that it readily 

 seized the brush and allowed itself to be carried some distance. 

 We can understand, I think, from these facts, that Pseudo- 

 scorpions annoyed by flies walking over them or entering their 

 retreats would naturally seize the insect's legs, and it is obvious 

 that the insects, being several times the size of the Arachnids, 

 would have no difficulty in flying away with them. It is clear, 

 moreover, that the creatures may thus be carried to considerable 

 distances', for, refusing to acknowledge themselves beaten — 

 and perhaps imagining that they have caught the fly — they often 

 keep the pincer tightly closed and hold on for a long time with 

 extreme tenacity. Dr. Hess, who kept a fly and Pseudoscorpion 

 in captivity, did not observe any material change in the Arachnid's 

 position after fifty-six hours. The creatures may detach them- 

 selves voluntarily as above noted, and they have been known to 

 do so when the fly is caught by a naturalist ; but this rarely 

 happens, the Pseudoscorpion usually retaining its hold even when 

 the fly is considerably handled for observation. One of Dr. Low's 

 specimens retained its grasp even when subjected to partial 

 stupefaction with ether ; and the other, though it became 

 detached, immediately resumed its position on awakening. 

 When the Ctenophora above mentioned was killed in alcohol 

 two of the four Chernes fell off,- but the other two kept their 

 positions, falling off only when removed ^from the spirit. 

 Professor Moniez mentions that he preserves Pseudoscorpions 

 and a fly, plunged alive into spirit, but still in position ; and we 

 have, further, the case of the Chelifer in amber still attached to 

 the leg of an ichneumon. This means of dispersal — if a means 

 of dispersal only — is a remarkable one ; but it is not without its 

 parallel in nature. Bivalve molluscs often close their shells on 

 the toes of flying water-insects and birds as well as on those 

 of frogs, toads, newts, etc. ; and this is clearly an accidental 



* Albin, 'Natural History of Spiders and other Curious Insects,' 1736, 

 p. 56: 'It had two long- things,' says the author, of a Chelifer, 'like the 

 claws of a lobster, and would use them as a crab or lobster doth to pinch 

 or lay hold of anything-.' 



Naturalist, 



