DR. JOHNSTON ON THE AOABIDES OF BERWICKSHIRE. 



297 



lent manner in which two individuals will describe the same 

 object, and to the really considerable variety in the mite it- 

 self. The figure copied into Griffith's Cuvier gives a faint 

 idea of the beauty of the finer specimens, and is taken from 

 one in which the dorsal fascia has suffered no dilatation at 

 either end. 



10. Leptus oribatus. 



Desc. Mite minute, of a shining vermilion-red colour : Body 

 ovate, ventricose, narrowest in front, even and unsegmented, 

 sprinkled with a few blackish bristles pointed backwards: 

 Rostrum separate from the body, conoid, thick, narrowed in 

 front with an obtuse bifid apex (Fig. a) : Palpi (b) originat- 

 ing from about the 

 middle of the rostrum, 

 large, 4-jointed, the 

 basal joint thick and 

 large, the 2d minute, 

 the 3d larger, and the 

 ultimate armed with 

 a long curved simple 

 claw ; there is also a 

 bristly process on the 

 inner side of the 

 third joint : Legs 6, 

 the first pair not so 

 distant from the se- 

 cond as this is from 

 the third, pale or 

 colourless, gracile, fi- 

 liform, as long as 

 the body, bristly, 

 especially the three 

 distal joints (Fig. c), and most so the tarsal joint ; 

 the bristles setaceous, pointed downwards, of moderate 

 length : Of the legs the 1st or basal joint is thick and short ; 

 the 2d shorter but narrower ; 3d elongate, gracile ; 4th not 

 quite so long as the third ; 5th longest ; 6th about half as long 

 as the fifth : This joint of the first leg is dilated in the mid- 

 dle, and obliquely tapered at the end, where it is terminated 

 by a curved claw (Fig. c) : of the second leg the joint is 

 scarcely dilated, and there seems to be two claws moving in 

 the same direction ; of the third leg the joint is filiform, of a 

 reddish colour, and apparently without a claw. 



