HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



149 



cheese-mite would make a capital text for a parson (I 

 speak sympathetically), by preaching him a most 

 convincing sermon. By way of variation and illus- 

 tration I begged that he would obtain without delay 

 a most entertaining volume entitled " The Playtime 

 Naturalist," and turn to the chapter which deals with 

 mites, then come to my laboratory to see the identical 



motion. We may call the six-legged stage the larval 

 condition, but if you wish to be deemed scientific, 

 pray use the word Hypopus stage. That magic word 

 will admit you at once into the front ranks of 

 scientific literates. This larval condition, be it 

 understood, was once regarded in a very different 

 light. Many a battle has been fought over a six- 



Fig. 113.— Female of Arrenurus (mag.). 



Fig. zi^.— Arrenurus truncatelltts (mag.). 



Fig. 116. — Single eggs of Newt, wrapped in leaves, showing 

 development. From " Playtime Naturalist." 



Fig. 115. — Arrenurus integrator (mag.). 



creatures under the microscope. Here I promised to 

 show him the different stages from the egg to the 

 perfect creature, and then he would better under- 

 stand my meaning. 



" There is one thing," I continued, " which I wish 

 to emphasize, and it is this ; that when the mite is 

 half-way between egg and imago it has only six legs, 

 whereas the perfect creature has eight organs of loco- 



legged Hypopus — the history of which has been duly 

 chronicled by Michael in the ' Journal of the 

 Linnean Society,' by Murray in ' Economic Ento- 

 mology,' not to mention other authorities." 



My profound learning quite took the breath from 

 my friend and his other guests, so that they never 

 attempted to interrupt me. As I seldom get a 

 chance to speak, I took the opportunity to point out 



