fe 
This species was figured by Glover in his Cotton Insects, and has 
been treated recently by Professor Morgan. Specimens have been 
examined from Baton Rouge, La. 
Stigmzeus Koch.—Uebersicht des Arachnidensystems, III, p. 53, 1842. 
This genus differs much from Tetranychus in structure, but is closely 
allied in habits, the species living in colonies on leaves. The anterior 
and posterior pairs of legs are more widely separated than in Tetrany- 
chus; the body is more elongate and is usually more or less constricted 
near the middle; there are no rows of long bristles above; the tarsus 
ends in two equal claws, which in our species are deeply cleft. The 
mandibles in our species appear to be extremely long and styliform. 
The palpi seems to be simple, the last joint very slender. But one 
species has been observed in our country. 
Stigmeeus floridanus n. sp. 
Body elongate, more than twice as large as broad, blunt-pointed at 
each end, constricted somewhat before the middle, the posterior part 
‘ather broader than the anterior, constricted slightly between the III 
and IV legs, four short 
curved bristles near apex, 
one oneach anterior side of 
the posterior part and one 
on each side near the apical 
third of the anterior part. 
The legs are short and 
stout, scarcely as long as 
the width of body, the an- 
terior pairs rather longer 
than the hind pairs; the 
tarsus ends ina pair of dou- 
ble claws, the outer branch 
longer and less curved 
than the inner branch. 
Living in colonies upon 
the bases of the imbricated 
\ 
; F : \ 
leaves of the pineapple in : 
Florida. A species of con- "1am se Naps ere ea ara ed 
siderable economic impor- 
portance owing to the fact that its punctures give certain destructive 
fungi access to the tissue of the leaf. In Australia Mr. H. Tryon has 
recorded a quite different mite affecting the pineapples in that colony. 
He claims that it often carries the spores of the fungous disease. He 
calls the mite Zarsonemus ananas.' Professor Rolfs has published” 
on the habits of this Stégmeus and the damage it leads to in Florida. 
Queensland Agric. Jour., 3 (1898), No. 6, pp. 458-467. 
7 Bul. No. 50, Fla. Agric. Exp. Sta., May, 1899. 
