466 ' MITE. 
preceding, and sometimes of nearly similar^ si^ej 
it is found occasionally on cattle, dogs, and some 
of the larger kind of birds. 
Among the animals of this genus which infest 
Insects themselves the most common species is 
the Acarus Coleoptratorum of Linnaeus, which is 
very frequently seen on the bodies of some of the 
larger kind of Coleopterous insects, but more par- 
ticularly on the Scarabieus stercqrarius or com- 
mon black beetle, which may be sometimes seen 
so covered with its numbers as to be scarcely able 
to move its limbs. This insect is about thrice 
the size of the common Mite, of a pale yellowish 
brown colour, and of an oval shape, with a slightly 
convex body: its motions are moderately quick, 
and the feet are terminated by a large vesicular 
concavity, by the help of which it is enabled to 
apply itself w ith security to the glossy surface of 
the insect wdiich it thus infests. 
On the Black Beetle also, as w ell as on some 
of the Silphae, and other coleopterous insects is 
not unfrequently found that higldy curious species 
of Mite called Acarus vegetans^ or the vegetating 
Mite, from the very singular manner in which it 
is affixed to the limbs or wing-shells of the insect 
it infests; viz. by a stem or footstalk of consider- 
able length, proceeding from the end of the body, 
and resembling a tail. This species is much smaller 
than the preceding, but of similar colour : its 
shape is nearly hemispherical, the upper or con- 
vex part being of a lucid surface. I have some- 
