376 BElTISn ORIBATlDiE. 



Legs rather long, but of the ordinary type of the 

 genus. The fourth coxa with an extremely sharp 

 point at the upper angle. All the femora, except the 

 first, with strong blades. Genuals small. Tibiae long 

 with slender peduncles, particularly the two hinder 

 pairs; and distal ends considerably enlarged. Tarsi 

 short, inversely pyriform ; claws very heterodactyle. 

 Tactile hairs large, a whorl of fine curved hairs on 

 most of the other joints ; tarsi clothed as usual. 



Abdomen oval or elliptical, varying in form as stated 

 below. Progaster slightly truncated. Notogaster 

 finely punctured all over, but without other markings. 

 There are some moderate-sized, curved, fine hairs round 

 the hind margin, and four longitudinal rows of similar 

 hairs on the notogaster. The genital and anal plates 

 are pentagonal with rounded angles and are always 

 large and near together, but more so in some specimens 

 than others ; in some they occupy almost the whole 

 length of the ventral plate, in others they are some 

 little distance apart ; this seems to depend, not upon 

 sex, but upon the shape of the abdomen, which varies. 

 The dorsal plate turns under at the lateral edge and 

 embraces the ventral, but at the extreme hinder end 

 the dorsal is suddenly scooped out (as seen from 

 below), and ceases to embrace the ventral; upon the 

 membrane which lines the plates and joins them, there 

 is, in some specimens, an imperfectly chitinised oblong 

 plate lying in the scooping- out of the dorsal ; this 

 oblong plate is not seen in all specimens and is often 

 very slight ; in some small specimens which I obtained 

 at the New Forest it is so strongly developed and so 

 large that I have doubted whether they really were the 

 same species ; I fancy that it is more or less retractile. 

 A broad, lancet-shaped, chitinous, flat, median point 

 projects from the rear of the ventral plate and passes 

 over and rests on the oblong plate, which thus becomes 

 a catch to secure the ventral plate. Where the oblong 

 plate is strongly developed, and appears to proceed 

 from, or be closely attached to, the dorsal plate, the 



