THE JOUKNAL 



or THE 



Qntkttt Ulurosnrpual €lnh. 



On an undescribed Acarus of the genus Myobia. 

 By A. D. Michael, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., &c. 

 Read April 25th, 1884. 

 ^ PLATE I. 



Some short time since the Revd. C. R. N. Burrows, of Brent- 

 wood, Essex, sent me, for examination, a specimen of an Acarus 

 which he had found parasitic upon a bat of the common small 

 species, Scotophilus pipistrellus, which he had obtained from a 

 cavern in Gloucestershire. 



Mr. Burrows recognised the mite as belonging to the genus 

 Myobia, and suspected that it was unusual ; I at once saw that it 

 was, as far as I know, undescribed, and that it was sufficiently dis- 

 tinct and interesting to merit a notice. I have a great objection to 

 describing any species relying solely upon a single specimen; it 

 unfortunately is not possible to avoid doing so sometimes ; but this 

 necessity has, in my opinion, been the source of numerous and per- 

 plexing errors in zoological works. Moreover, in most creatures as 

 high up the scale of organization as the Acari, a single specimen 

 can only belong to one sex ; and the sexes differ in several respects 

 in Myobia. I therefore begged Mr. Burrows to try and obtain 

 further examples, and he was good enough to take great trouble in 

 the matter. An organized bat-hunt was commenced in the caves, 

 and the results were sent to Mr. Burrows. He forwarded to me a 

 living specimen of Scotophilia pipistrellus, but, although it was very 

 interesting, both for itself and its parasites, it was not the host of 

 any Myobia?. Mr. Burrows examined about six specimens of the 

 Journ. Q. M. C, Series II., No. 9. b 



