562 BRITISH oribatidj:. 



within the pseudo-stigma are shown in fig. 12. Inter- 

 lamellar hairs near together, long, fine, setiform, 

 usually almost horizontal and not easily seen. 



Legs rather short, the two front pairs the thicker, 

 when seen from the side, and having the femora longest. 

 Claws monodactyle, very large ; almost as long as the 

 tarsi. Tactile hairs on the first pair of legs very long ; 

 all the tarsi thickly clothed with long hairs, and several 

 longish hairs on the other joints. 



Abdomen somewhat truncated anteriorly, very round 

 posteriorly, somewhat globose in form. There are two 

 longitudinal rows of a few long setiform hairs on the 

 notogaster, and two rows of similar shorter hairs on 

 each side. Genital and anal plates large, the former 

 the broader, and squarish, the latter coming almost to 

 a point posteriorly. The dorsal plate is not much 

 sufflexed on to the ventral surface posteriorly. 



Nymjph. 



I do not think that anyone would distinguish this 

 nymph from that of Hojplophora magna except by 

 breeding it, and even when this is done it is far from 

 easy to be sure that the right nymph has been kept 

 under observation, because both are wood-boring 

 creatures ; and even if the observer is certain that the 

 creature he wishes to rear comes from an egg of S. 

 dasyjpus, yet in order to keep it alive he must allow it 

 to burrow into decayed wood, and it is almost impos- 

 sible to be sure that this wood does not contain eggs 

 or young of H. magna, unless it be submitted to pro- 

 cesses which would unfit it for food. This nymph is 

 well figured by Claparede (his Plate XXXIY, figs. 3, 

 4). It is a fat white lump, and the figure and descrip- 

 tion which I have given above for the nymph of H. 

 magna will practically apply to this also. 



Distribution. — The creature is a wood-boring spe- 

 cies, and is found in the moss growing on the wood ; 



