342 BRITISH ORIBATIDiE. 



border, wliicli, however, is absent from the progaster ; 

 the central part is much arched, and almost entirely 

 covered by short, irregular, vermiform, anastomosing 

 ridges ; and these form an irregular reticulation, with 

 shallow, depressed spaces between them; both ridges 

 and spaces are rough and somewhat granular. The 

 border is flatter than the central region, but slopes 

 downward; it is rough and irregular, its anterior 

 portion is strongly granular ; the remaining part bears 

 large, transverse, irregular ridges or corrugations 

 which project beyond the lateral edges, giving a very 

 broken outline. There are not any hairs on the noto- 

 gaster, and only a few very short ones round the 

 posterior margin. 



Genital and anal plates pentagonal, near together. 

 Whole ventral surface rough. 



Nymph. 



This creature, which has been discovered since the 

 publication of the first volume of this book, is certainly 

 one of the most singular and beautiful creatures in the 

 whole range of the Orihatida. 



Colour light-brown or drab, legs and rostrum darker 

 and with a slightly redder shade. 



Texture rough, granular, sometimes almost glitter- 

 ing, as though strewn with specks of mica ; on a care- 

 ful microscopical examination this effect is found to be 

 due to a sort of areolation, or pitting. 



Form elliptical ; the ellipse becomes broader at each 

 ecdysis. The periphery, between the projections 

 mentioned below, is rough and broken by granulations. 



Cephalothorax small, conical. Rostrum blunt. Eos- 

 tral hairs leaf-like, similar to those hereinafter de- 

 scribed as bordering the abdomen, but straight, and 

 devoid of the singular projection from which each 

 abdominal hair springs. Pseudo-stigmata dorsal, pro- 

 jecting, cup-hke. Pseudo-stigmatic organs long, rough. 



