810 DR. JOHNSTON ON THE ACARTDES OF BERWICKSHIRE. 



2d edit. 482. — Oribata clavipes, Griffith's Cuvier, xiii. pi. 23, 

 fig. 6.=Notaspis clavipes, Hermann sec. Dug^s in Ann. dee 

 Sc. Nat. (1834) ii. 46. — Oribata geniculata, (rime's in Walck. 

 Ins. Apt. iii. 256. — Damajus geniculatus, Koch Uebers. Arach- 

 nid. 106. 



Desc. Mite about a line in length, of a uniform pitch-black 

 colour, with nodulous legs longer than the sub-globular body, 

 tardigradous : Body divided into a rostrum, thorax and abdo- 

 men : Rostrum thick, declivous, armed with two curved bris- 

 tles on each side below the apex, which is conoid or triangulate : 

 Thorax square, much narrower than the abdomen, broader 

 than long, rough, and somcAvhat tuberculate behind, plane, 

 deeply and acutely cut on the sides at the origin of the first 

 and second pairs of legs : A hdomen globose, rounded, sparingly 

 bristled, the back even, with two punctures and two short 

 striae forwards, slightly notched on the sides behind the tho- 

 rax, corneous, and separate from the ventral portion by a dis- 

 tinct rim underneath : Venter convex, smooth, with two dis- 

 tinctly circumscribed more polished elevated spaces in the 

 middle, each with a distinct mesial cleft ; the anterior space 

 larger than the one immediately behind it : Legs 8, alike in 

 form, knobby, armed with coarse bristles, originating near 

 each other, two pairs from the thorax, and two from the an- 

 terior portion of the abdomen, the first and fourth pairs 

 longest, the second a little shorter than the third ; all of them 

 are (J-jointed, and the joints are incrassated or knobbed near 

 the distal ends ; 1st joint short, 2d elongate, 3d short, 4th as 

 long as the second but slenderer, 5th about half as long, 6th 

 abruptly slenderer, elongate, tapered insensibly downwards, 

 furnished with two bristles on the external edge near the dis- 

 tal end, and with several on the inner edge, especially at the 

 apex, which is terminated with a powerful sickle-shaped 

 smooth claw ; the bristles smooth and setaceous ; the colour 

 of the joint brown. 



There is no mistaking this mite from its size, its beetle- 

 like form and consistency, its deep black colour, and its gouty 

 unfashioned legs. There are no visible palpi, nor mandibles, 

 nor eyes. The integument is hard and horny ; and the mite 

 has some resemblance to the Gibbium scotias, and still more 

 so to some of the minute Curculionidae. The bristles on the 

 back are coarse and erect, and arranged in two distant rows 

 on each side of the mesial line. Those on the legs are often 

 coated with a coagulated membrane, probably the juice of the 

 fungi on which the individuals were feeding. They all point 



