Dec., 1905.] 
Chelanops oblongus. 
407 
HABITS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PSEUDOSCORPION- 
IDAE, PRINCIPALLY CHELANOPS OBLONGUS, SAY * 
E. W. Berger, Ph, D. (J. H. U.). 
The observations that prompted the writing of this paper 
were made mainly in Jamaica, W. I., at intervals between the 
14th of June and the middle of August, 1897, while the writer 
was a member of the Marine Biological Laboratory of the Johns 
Hopkins University, located for that summer at Port Antonio. 
Soon after our arrival an abundance of material, with most of 
the females bearing egg and brood pouches, was discovered upon 
the Bogg Estate, just to the west of the above named town. The 
majority of the specimens collected (several hundred in all) 
belong to a single species, Chelanops oblongus. Ten specimens 
only of another, a smaller, more active species, but with larger 
mandibles (chelicerae) and with a more rectangular abdomen, 
were found in the same locality living together with the previous 
species. This smaller species is Chthonius pennsylvanicus , 
Hagen. 
I believe it proper to add here, that I was turned aside from 
this to other work soon after my return from Jamaica, and 
that before I had identified these species. Later, when I desired 
to identify them I had no facilities, and in 1900 sent specimens 
to the Smithsonian Institution. These were promptly identified 
for me by Mr. Nathan Banks, Honorary Curator of the Section 
of Arachnida, as the species above named. I have only recently 
had the opportunity to identify them for myself at the Ohio 
State University, using Mr. Bank’s key (III). 
The Pseudoscorpionidae (Chernetidae) constitute an order in 
the Class Arachnoidea, or spider-like animals, and some species 
are very small. The specimens in L. Balsan’s list (I) range 
from 1.20 to 7.10 mm. in length. The C. oblongus from Jamaica 
measures 3.83 to 4.00 mm. ; some specimens collected by Profes- 
sor Jas. S. Hine at Georgesville, Ohio, measure only 2.00 mm., 
but are evidently not fully matured. The males are slightly 
smaller than the females. C. pennsylvanicus measures 1.90 
mm. only. They are called Pseudoscorpions because of their 
resemblance to real scorpions, except in size and in the absence 
of the post-abdomen and a poison sting. Manv species are 
blind, including C. oblongus; C. pennsylvanicus has four small 
eyes. 
Distribution’. — I was surprised to find that both the species 
collected in Jamaica should occur quite throughout the eastern 
U. S. Mr. Banks names the following localities for C . oblongus: 
Ithaca, N. Y., Washington, D. C., Brazos Co., Texas, Citrus Co., 
♦Contributions from the Department of Zoology of the Ohio State University, No. 23. 
