THE society's NOTE-BOOKS. 



Uropoda vegetans (PL VIII., Fig. 3).— Some years ago, while 

 examining a small species of Carabus, I found one covered 

 with a curious parasitic mite, attached by what appeared to be a 

 chitinous rope to the beetle. I made a drawing of it, as also of 

 some others, which I found free, running about under the elytra. 

 A copy of these drawings I annex. I did not at the time know 

 what the tailed species was, but was afterwards informed that it 

 was U7Vpoda vegetans. The drawing was from the living mite, and 

 does not show those details which are revealed by the mounting 

 in balsam. Is it possible that the free species were the immature 

 forms of the other ? Packard says that the Acarina, when first 

 hatched, are worm-like ; then there is an oval stage, when the 

 young mite has but three pairs of feet (though in others at this 

 stage there are four pairs), and after another moultmg the fourth 

 pair of limbs appear." The passage in brackets would leave room 

 for such a supposition. I think the peduncle is solid and not 

 tubular, as Mr. Nicholson suggests ; but perhaps he may be right, 

 as he says he has compared it with others. I cannot imagine, if 

 this be a part and parcel of the animal, what portion of the animal 

 it can represent. I have hitherto regarded it as a secretion some- 

 what analogous to the byssus-threads of a mussel, but in the slide 

 before us, it presents all the appearance of being composed of 

 chitine, the same as the rest of the horny structures of the animal. 

 \.i it be a portion of the body, how is the attachment effected ? 

 How comes it that this creature is found on the petal of a gera- 

 nium (as stated by the owner) ? This would appear to be far 

 from its usual habitat. 



A. Hammond. 



I am desirous of knowing what are the uses of the tail append- 

 ages of this mite, and what is the substance at the end of each ? 



From a careful consideration of somewhat similar specimens in 

 my possession, in various stages of development, I have little 

 doubt of the tail appendages being tubes, acting in the double 

 capacity of means for suspension, and of passage for nutriment, a 

 perfectly-formed aperture being visible when the tail is gone. My 

 specimens are fixed to the elytron of a beetle. 



A. Nicholson. 



The slide containing this object also contains a young mite, not 

 fully developed, which also shows a peduncle. 



A. Atkinson. 



I think Mr. Nicholson is wrong in considering the tail-like 



