78 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Mar., '22 



near locality. Bases of rocks are covered with penguin guano. 

 Insects are found beneath loose boulders in crevices sometimes 

 in separate colonies, sometimes together. Insects are active at 

 all hours of day during summer except when rain is falling, at 

 such time they seem to be unable to move if exposed to pres- 

 sure of moisture. The round-bodied species (Halozctcs ant- 

 arc tica} build dome-shaped brown cells closely connected but 

 only one story high. Other species apparently do not build any 

 kind of extra shelter." 



There are known up to the present at least fourteen good 

 species of terrestrial Acarina from the Antarctic Region. These 

 species are well distributed in the order belonging, as they do, 

 to four different suborders and five different families. Since 

 some of these species are almost, if not quite, identical with 

 species occurring in the Arctics and others are of a wide 

 geographical distribution, Trouessart came to the conclusion 

 that the Antarctic continent had no distinctive acarid fauna. 



Berlese, who worked with a much larger amount of material 

 and at a later date, came to the conclusion that two of the beetle 

 mite species (one of them Halozctes antarctica} were sufficiently 

 distinct to be placed in a new genus. He, therefore, established 

 in 1^16 the genus Halozetcs, having as its type H. antarctica 

 (Mich.). This genus, according to Berlese, includes species 

 exclusively of the antarctic fauna and have little of affinity 

 with the others which belong to the arctic, or subarctic. If 

 Berlese's contention is correct this is the only case of a strictly 

 endemic genus of Acarina thus far known in the Antarctic 

 Region. 



When the writer first observed the specimens of Halosetes 

 antarctica, left by Captain Wilkins, he was especially struck; 

 with its resemblance to species with which he was familiar 

 from our own country and from Europe. A more careful 

 study of this species has been made, and the writer must insist 

 that it is in reality fairly near some of the temperate or tropical 

 species of the genus Lucofpia Berlese (type Zctcs lucornm 

 Koch). When the type species of Halozrtcs is compared with 

 that of Lncoppia- the differences between them appear to be 

 sufficiently distinct, but when the type species of Halozctes is 



