280 T DR. JOHNSTON ON THE ACAEIDES OF BERWICKSHIRE. 



pairs, terminated with two mi- 

 nute curved claws moving in the 

 same direction, the joint bearing 

 them ovate, enlarged, and more 

 densely hirsute beneath than the 

 other joints, some of the hairs 

 being capitate. Of the anterior 

 legs the 1st joint is shorter than 

 the 2d, 3d, or 4th, which are near- 

 ly equal, and twice as long as the 

 5th and 6th, which are ovate ; but 

 of the posterior legs the penulti- 

 mate or 5th joint is as long as the 

 third, which is slightly dilated. 



The first and fourth pairs of 

 legs are longer than the second 

 and third ; and the two first pairs 

 are of a fine scarlet colour, while 

 the lower half of the posterior 

 pairs are of the same dark hue 

 as the body. It is a smaller insect than the Acarus lon- 

 gicornis, but is similar in its habits and equally quick 

 in its movements. (Fig. a. the rostrum and palpi : fig. h. a 

 leg.) 



Mr. Adam White, of the British Museum, has sent me an 

 extract, translated by Mr. Jones, from the Iter (Elandicum 

 of Linnaeus, from which we learn that, on the 8th of June 

 1741, when the eminent Swede was on his travels, he found 

 this mite on the coast of (Eland : — " An acarus, which was 

 small and red, similar to those which are found in the sum- 

 mer time on currants, but of almost double the size, ran 

 about upon the stones Avhich were by the shore : its body 

 was of a reddish-brown but all the feet were of a blood-red 

 colour."* — The description applies to our mite so well that I 

 cannot doubt its being of the same species as that which 

 engaged Linnaeus's attention, and hence to me an additional 

 interest in its examination, — an interest scarcely abated by 

 the fact that the diagnosis given by his pupil Fabricius is less 



• En Acania. aom war liten ocli rdd, lik den som om sommaren plagar halla 

 Big pi winbaren, fast dubbelt storre, sprang pa stenarna som stodo wid strand- 

 en ratt allmen; des mage war rodbrun, men alia des fdtter blodroda." — P. 96. 

 Carl Linneei Med. et Botan. Prof. Ups. Olandska och Gothlandska, Reda, 

 1741. Stockh. et Upsal, 1745. 



