122 



HAHDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



about the box ; all of them having only six legs each, 

 the old ones having eight. The young lived for 

 more than six mouths, but on what they, with the 



specimens of the Argus have been seen, aud it was 

 supposed that the creatures inhabited the old timber 

 of the roof, where for ages both pigeons and jack- 

 daws have nested, and that the few that have at 

 times been found in the lower parts of the Cathedral 

 were casual wanderers from their usual haunts. But 

 Mr. H. Austin, the present architect of the 

 Cathedral, thinks they have nothing to do with 

 pigeons as parasites, nor with the old timber as 

 food. He relates that some twenty-five years ago, 

 his father (who was then architect), in having some 



•■">:/^iif«i*'"' ^-; 



Fig. 83. Young of Argus reflexus. 



Fig. 84. Nat. size of ditto. 



old ones, subsisted, is more than I can tell, as there 

 was nothing in the box with them but a few small 

 pieces of decayed wood. I watched them con- 

 tinually, expecting to see the addition of the deflcient 

 pair of legs, which I thought probably would take 

 place at a moulting; but, not being in a natural con- 

 dition for their further development, this did not 

 take place. They are stated by Latreille to be 

 parasitic in their early state on young pigeons, but 

 this we have not yet been able to verify. Some of 

 them are about a third of an inch long, a fifth broad, 

 and a twentieth thick, but many are smaller. The 



Fig. 85. Nat. size oi Argus reflexus. 



back is irregularly wrinkled or pitted, and in the 

 larger specimens, regularly studded with minute 

 points, each about l-120tli of an inch in diameter, 

 and composed, according to Mr. Gulliver, of carbo- 

 nate of lime. The outline of the creature is egg- 

 shaped, with the small end forward. They have no 

 eyes, nor have they a suctorial proboscis, like the 

 common tick. They are quite opaque, and through- 

 out of a dull and uniform dark brown hue, except at 

 the circumference, which is rather paler : they are 

 slow in their movements, and when disturbed will 

 readily sham death by drawing up the legs close 

 under the body, so as to be completely hid from sight 

 on a dorsal view (fig. 82). Since the fire that took 

 place September 3rd, 1872, by which a portion of the 

 old roof of the Cathedral was destroyed, very few 



Fig. 86. Ventral view oi Argus reflexus, 



old wall removed in connection with the repaii-ing 

 going on in the Cathedral, came upon a quantity of 

 these insects in the mortar in which the stones 

 were laid. He had them placed in a box with the 

 intention of sending them to London for investiga- 

 tion. They were put by at the time and ultimately 

 forgotten. Some four or five years had passed, 

 when the box containing them was found and 

 opened, and to his astonishment numbers of them 

 were still living. There was nothing in the box in 

 shape of food, nor was there any indication that 

 they had consumed any portion of the box. Annexed 

 is a sketch (fig. 85) I have made from the specimens 

 I have by me. Perhaps some of your many readers 

 may recognize them as inhabiting some other places 

 as well as Canterbury Cathedral, aud be able to 

 throw some light on their life-history. 



May 1st, 1874. — I have just obtained two speci- 

 mens of the Argus, near to where I found those 

 before mentioned ; they were almost covered with 

 that salty semitranspareut efflorescence that is 

 frequently found on the mortar of old buildings. 



James Eullagak. 



" The present is only the last of a great series of 

 pre-existing creations, of which we cannot esti- 

 mate the number or limit in times past." — LyeWs 

 " Geology r 



