384 BRITISH ORIBATID.E. 



edge of this is often a narrow, ill-defined, rough ridge 

 bearing several short, thick hairs or spines ; the annulus 

 curves downward towards the margin, but not very 

 strongly. The whole surface of the abdomen is rough 

 and irregularly sprinkled with raised dots, which are 

 far largest and most conspicuous on the central lump. 

 Genital plates square ; anal plates more oblong — the 

 two pairs of plates near together and placed far forward. 



Nymph. 



This is also rather a complicated creature, not very 

 easy to describe. 



Colour light oak-brown, with a tendency to a grey 

 dusty effect over the raised parts of the cuticle. 



Texture like fine shagreen. 



Cephalothorax rather more than one- third of the whole 

 length ; at its base it is nearly as wide as the abdomen. 

 Rostrum rounded and slightly truncated, a blunt point 

 on each side of the truncation carries the curved ros- 

 tral hair. The cephalothorax appears, as in the adult, 

 to be arranged in three spaces. Firstly, the rostrum, 

 which bears two longitudinal ridges commencing close 

 to the above-named points but sometimes a trifle nearer 

 the lateral margin. Secondly, a region which extends 

 from the rostrum to the insertion of the first pair of 

 legs, and has a central shield-shaped space on the 

 dorsal surface, enclosed by a raised ridge, against the 

 front of which the ends of the before-named longitu- 

 dinal ridges abut. A smaller space, narrower in pro- 

 portion, on the slope of each side, is often enclosed by 

 a ridge. Thirdly, a region extending to the abdomen, 

 and which has a central octagonal space enclosed by a 

 similar ridge and abutting on the shield- shaped ridge 

 anteriorly, and on the abdomen posteriorly. On each 

 side of the octagon is a rounded, somewhat mammil-i- 

 form portion, bearing the pseudo-stigma, which is 



