WARBURTON— THE ACARINA OF THE SEYCHELLES 351 



29. Neoleodes striatus, n. sp. 34. Nothrus scotti, n. sp. 



30. Neoleodes femoralis, n. sp. 35. Hypochthonius palliduhis, C. L. Koch. 

 3L Nothrus seychellensis, n. sp. 



32. Nothrus tectorum var. lonrjipes, n. var. irntniracannae. 



33. Nothrus prismaticus, n. sp. 36. Phthiracarus arduus (C. L. Koch). 



Notes on British species of Oribatid^, or varieties of them, 



FROM the Seychelles. 



Specimens of Orihata alata appear to be very plentiful everywhere ; a large number 

 were taken on the spot, and the species was present in all the consignments of moss. 

 Their size was extremely variable, some specimens exceeding 1'5 mm. in length, while 

 others were no more than "7 mm. They also varied somewhat in texture, some being 

 entirely glossy and polished, while others were more or less punctate and duller in appear- 

 ance. Nevertheless all attempts to divide the numerous examples into clearly marked 

 varieties failed. It is known that O. alata is a very variable species ; examples occurred 

 in the Sikkim moss examined by Mr Pearce, but these were all large (about r2 mm.), and 

 he alludes to them as 0. alata var. major: 



A few examples of what appeared to be O. cuspidata occurred in moss fi'om Mt 

 Alphonse*. 



The only Tegeocranus found was the cosmopolitan T. velatus, which occurred frequently 

 in moss wherever collected. It has generally been found present in moss from any part of 

 the world as far as investigations have been carried out hitherto. It is extremely doubtful 

 whether this minute creature is properly attributed to the genus Tegeocranus, and there 

 is no evidence that the Seychelles possess any forms allied to the extremely common 

 European species T. cepheus. 



A small Carahodes occurred fairly plentifully in moss from the Cascade Estate. It 

 precisely resembled a somewhat small C. labyrinthicus except that the hairs on its body 

 were distinctly clavate, and it was therefore considered as a variety of that species and 

 named C. labyrinthicus var. clavatus. 



The genus Notaspis is generally well represented, as regards Its smaller forms, in 

 moss from any locality, and the Seychelles examples were numerous, and included some 

 which were referred without much hesitation to the British species N. splendens, 

 N. sculptilis and N. clavipectinata. A few agreed with the last-named species in every- 

 thing but the absence of hairs on the pseudostigmatic organs, and are recorded as 

 N. clavipectinata var. calva. 



The only Hermannia found occurred in moss from Mah^. It was indistinguishable 

 from the well-known H. convexa, though somewhat smaller than British examples. 



Among the four representatives of the genus Nothrus obtained from Seychelles moss 

 only one strongly resembled a previously known form. It is described below as N. tectorum 

 var. longipes. 



The solitary species of Hypochthonius observed appeared to differ in no respect from 

 H. pallidulus, and there seemed to be no reason to separate the forms of Phthiracarus 

 obtained from the European species Ph. arduus. 



* The localities unless otherwise mentioned are in the Island of Mahe. 

 SECOND SERIES— ZOOLOGY, VOL. XV. 45 



