150 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



Super-family EUPODOIDEA. 



Family EUPODID^. 



No Acarids of this family have up to the pi'esent been described 

 fi'om Australia, but one species at least occurs. The family is a 

 small one, and the individuals comprising it microscopic. All are 

 predacious, and feed upon small insects or insect's eggs ; one or 

 two species are supposed to be parasitic. They are soft-bodied, 

 delicate, with moderately long to long legs ; the division of the 

 cephalothorax and abdomen is more or less clearly defined ; the 

 cephalothorax is usually provided with two eyes — one on each 

 side ; the abdomen is provided with a few simple hairs ; jialpi are 

 short, simple, four-jointed, and furnished with a few hairs : 

 mandibles chelate, and (except in the genus Rhayidia, Thor.) 

 small ; legs six or seven jointed, terminating with two simple 

 claws, and often with a median plumose puhillus. These Acarids 

 are fond of cold, damp places ; most of the species occur upon the 

 ground, where they may be found lurking amidst fallen leaves ; 

 some occur upon the foliage of trees. 



Genus Ereynetes, Berl. 



Erynetes LIMACUM, >S'cA?'. 



Erynetes limacum, Schr., Ins. Aust., 1781, p. 521. 

 Acarus limactim, Schr., loc. cit. 



i/^«6.— Australia (introduced) ; Cosmopolitan. 



Host. — Common European slug, Limax maximns, Linn. This 

 species has followed its host in distribution. Slugs may often be 

 seen with numbers of this Acarid swarming over them. In 1890 

 my colleague, Mi-. C. Hedley, recorded' an Acarid as parasitic on 

 L. maximus and F. fiavus, Linn. It was doubtless the species 

 here listed. 



Super-family TROMBIDOID.E. 



Family CHEYLETID^. 



This is a small family, and the species constituting it are 

 mici'oscopic. None have, so far, been recorded from Australia, 

 but as some are parasitic on animals that have been introduced 

 here, it is quite likely that they may yet be x'ecorded when the 



■> Hedley— Prov. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, v., (2), 1890, p. 892. 



