ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 541 



worm and tugged off a piece, which it carried about, tearing and sucking 

 it till nothing but the cuticle remained. The palps are cleaned by being 

 passed through the pincers of the cheliceras, and also by being rubbed 

 together. The legs of the first pair are combed by the palpi, and, at the 

 tip, by the mandibles. The abdomen is combed by the legs of the first 

 two pairs. King describes the elaborate process of coition — 'during 

 which the male, carried about beneath the female, plunges his mandibles 

 deeply into the genital opening of the female and inserts a spermato- 

 phore. The process is similar in general features to that described by 

 Michael for other Gamasids. In captivity the males died a few days 

 after coition ; the females survived for several weeks. Two eggs were 

 deposited several times in succession. They usually hatched at night or 

 in the dark, the egg-shell splitting longitudinally. The newly hatched 

 larvse showed considerable activity, but did not eat. They retired into 

 crevices, and there the first moult took place. The first nymph, white 

 and slender, but larger than the larva, emerged in search of food, and 

 not meeting with anything else, attacked one of the larvae of its own 

 species, which it reduced to an empty husk. Its outlines became more 

 rounded, and it assumed a pinkish hue. 



The second mite dealt with is Gamasus (Halolselaps) glabriusculus 

 BerL and Trouess., found on and under stones between tide-marks. It 

 was proved to be able to endure complete immersion for at least forty- 

 eight hours. In the experiment it was noticed that air remained present 

 in the peritreme tube all the time. During the hours of tidal submer- 

 gence, the mite probably finds a reservoir of air in the crevices of the 

 stones or amongst the encrusting organisms of its habitat. 



The third mite described is a Bdellid, Molgus littoralis (L.), a large 

 scarlet form 2'5 mm. in length, found for the most part above high- 

 water mark. It was only once observed feeding — on a small living 

 Dipteron, apparently the Borborid Limosina zosterse. Another Bdellid, 

 smaller and brighter and more gregarious, was also found, commonly 

 associated with the Collembolan Anurida maritima, which probably 

 forms its food. It seems to be Bdella longicornis (L. 1758), Sig Thor, 

 1912. In the autumn it spins a silken tent, open at the top, in which 

 apparently it prepares to spend the winter. The tent, with one or more 

 mites inside, is found in the fissures of the sandstone. 



e. Crustacea. 



Nervous and Vascular Systems of Amphipods.* — H. Schmalz has 

 made a study of Lanceola, Vibrlia, Rhabdosoma, and Oxycephalies, with 

 reference to the nervous and vascular system. An account, with con- 

 siderable histological detail, is given of the brain, the oesophageal ring, 

 the ventral chain, the static organs, the eyes, the heart, the arteries, and 

 the sinuses. 



New Epicarid.j — S. Ishii describes Athelges taJcanos/mnensis sp. n., 

 an Epicarid Isopod parasitic on Eupagurus samuelis Stimps. As in 



* Jen. Zeitschr. Naturw., lii. (1914) pp. 135-208 (71 figs.), 

 t Annot. Zool. Japon, viii. (1914) pp. 519-30 (1 pi.). 



