DB. JOHNSTON ON tHB AOABIDKS OF BEBWICKSHIEB. 221 



The AcABiDES of Berwickshire specifically described. 

 By Geoege Johnston, M.D., &c. 



" and whilst he expected the tides and returns of business, he filled 



up the empty places of leisure with his studies."— 7%om<M Fidler. 



I propose laying before the Club, from time to time, de- 

 scriptions of the Mites to be found within the limits of our 

 district, because hitherto little attention has been directed 

 to them. Yet they are pleasant to examine from their sym- 

 metrical neatness and their vivid colouring ; they afford ex- 

 amples of many curious and admirable structures, and we may 

 hope to discover corresponding traits in their economy ; and 

 they have as many relations of good and bad to man, and to 

 his property, as any other family of insects. In describing 

 these " minims of Nature," I shall follow no order, purpos- 

 ing to remedy the defects of this plan by a systematic index 

 when our acquaintance with the tribe has been enlarged, 

 and the field we occupy may seem to have been sufficiently 

 explored. 



1. LePTUS AUTUMNAtIS, 



The autumnal Acarus or Harvest bug, Shaw Nat. Misc. iL 

 pi. 42. White Selborne, i. p. 153. — Acarus autumnalis. Stew. 

 Elem. iL p. 324. — Leptus autumnalis. Lam. An. s. Vert. v. p. 

 49 : 2de edit. v. p. 63. Latreille in Cuv. Reg. Anim. iv. p. 

 290. Griffith's Cuv. xiii. p. 508. Orr's Cuv. p. 471. 



Desc. Body oval or roundish, nar- 

 rowest and truncate in front, rounded 

 behind, uneven, sparsely covered with 

 rigid hairs or bristles, of a uniform tile- 

 red colour : Palpi two, pediform, placed 

 on each side ot the mouth, short and 

 folded under the breast, and in this po- 

 sition forming a shoulder-like promi- 

 nence ; they appear to be 4-jointed, 

 and are terminated with a pair of claws : Eyes ? two, distant, 

 forming a spot on each side in front, but these disappear 

 after death : Legs 3 pairs, alike and sub-equal, filifonn, rather 

 shorter than the body, bristled, armed with two curved 

 sharp claws closing in the same direction and inwards ; the 



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