368 HENRY SHIMER, M. D. 



along the sides, where she can reach with her abdomen to deposit them. 

 A few have already finished laying eggs, and are dead and contracted 

 into the anterior part of the scale. I also observe, that the parent be- 

 comes gradually smaller as she deposits her eggs, so that when she is 

 finishing she is not more than one-third the length she was when she 

 commenced, and then she dies, as I already begin to observe in a few 

 instances. 



Of a vast number of scales examined, all that arrive to full size are 

 inhabited by fertile egg-laying insects. Occasionally I find a young 

 scale aborted in its origin or at half development; these are found 

 empty, the inhabitants having died from some unobserved cause, most 

 likely from the parasitic insect presently to be noticed. I have not 

 been able to find separate sexes, although I have sought diligently dur- 

 ing the entire summer with this object especially in view. 



Auff. 18th. — I made a microscopic examination of the thread-like 

 proboscis of this insect, and was able to separate it into three parts at 

 the point of attachment, but did not thus separate it during the entire 

 length. 



On the parent insect and among the eggs, I saw an eight-legged 

 parasite* by the aid of a pocket lens. This Acarus has short, stubbled 

 legs, with long hairs on the tarsi ; head appearing something like that 

 of a turtle, projecting forward of the body. 



* Having made a microscopic examination of this Acarus, and believing it to 

 be a highly important and interesting insect, as well as new and heretofore un- 

 described, I suggest for it the following name : — 



Acarus? malus, n. sp. 



Body pale or whitish ; two long, hair-like spines behind the abdomen ; poste- 

 rior extremity of the abdomen emarginate, as seen from beneath. Head and 

 anterior legs ochraceous, the latter having the spines from the lower ])art of the 

 tibia longer than the limb itself; femur short, much swollen, scarcely project- 

 ing beyond the body; tibia swollen above, tapering towards the tarsus; tarsus 

 abruptly smaller than the lower end of the tibia, linear, terminated by a disk — 

 arolia or pul villus, the appearance under the microscope being that of the for- 

 mer, without a claw or any other tarsal appendages. The two pairs of anterior 

 Ics are well forward, encroaching close upon the head, the two pairs behind 

 the middle of the body somewhat more distant than the anterior pair. 



A few long hairs on the abdomen, those esi)ecially springing out of the pro- 

 minences, one on each side of the centre of the posterior extremity of the abdo- 

 men are longer than the body itself. The hairs on the posterior legs are much 

 longer than those on the anterior. From the extremity of the snout the mouth 

 organs can be seen as short spines projecting forward. Length .003— .005 — .008 

 inch; breadth half the length. 



