Various Short Notes. 2 1 5 



creatures should be seized ; but Cherries is blind and may not 

 always know their size. The Arachnid occasionally effects 

 a lodgment on the body of the living- insect, and perhaps sucks 

 its juices; but this is not usual ; and it is true that the insects 

 generally appear uninjured. Sometimes, however, they are in 

 an emaciated condition ; and according to Stainton's experience 

 Chelifers remain on the legs of house-flies until the latter die. 

 Lukis saw a Chelifer dragging- by the legs the carcass of 

 a Dipteron as large as the house-fly. The naturalist who 

 watched a Chelifer and fly for fifty-six hours was convinced 

 that the Chelifer was an assailant ; and Backhausen, who kept 

 a number of Chelifers and flies in captivity, is said to have 

 established that the Arachnids remained on the legs till the flies 

 died, and then travelled to the body and sucked its juices. The 

 subject will bear further investigation ; but from the facts now 

 in our possession it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion 

 that Pseudoseorpions found on the legs of other Arthropods — 

 often relatively gigantic — are attacking the creatures for food, 

 and that notwithstanding their diminutiveness they are to be 

 regarded, not as parasites, but as animals of prey. 



NOTE on NEUROPTERA. 

 Dragonflies Observed in the Huddersfield District.— On the 28th 

 May I visited Cawthorne, and observed Agriou puella, A. cyathigerum, and 

 Libellula quadrimaculata flitting- about in considerable numbers amongst 

 the vegetation of the disused Barnsley Canal. — W. E, L. WATTAM, New- 

 some, Huddersfield, 1 ith June 1901. 



NOTE on HE PAT ICS. 



Mbrckia hibernica and Petalophyllum Ralfsii in Yorkshire. — 



On 4th May 1901 I came across the former hepatic (which I have already 

 recorded in ' The Naturalist') with abundant capsules on Coatham Marshes, 

 a.nd in a new habitat. On washing out the gathering 1 , I found several 

 plants of the very rare Petalophyllum Ralfsii (YVils.) Gottsche mixed with 

 it. This latter is small, and looks like an outspread fan, with ridges or 

 lamellae running outwards .from the stalk. Mr. Pearson, who has seen it, 

 says this is one of the most important discoveries among the Hepaticas of 

 recent years. Its previous habitats were Ireland, Cornwall, and Anglesey, 

 so it will be seen it is a very important addition to the Hepatic Flora of 

 Yorkshire. — Wm. Ingham, York, 24th June 1901. 



NOTES and NEWS. 



'The Girl's Realm' for June igoi has been sent to us by the publishers, 

 Messrs. Bousfield & Co. Ltd., 10, Norfolk Street, London, W.C., who are 

 not only to be congratulated generally on the excellence of the periodical, 

 but specially on an article by the well-known naturalist-photographer, 

 Mr. R. Kearton, F.Z.S., on ' Birds in their Little Nests,' illustrated by more 

 than a dozen of the admirable photographs taken by Mr. Cherry Kearton, 

 the artist's brother. 



1901 July 2. 



