126 



MITES AND TICKS. 



eight short legs, and in the larva state has six legs. This sin 

 gular form is one of the lowest and most degraded of the order 

 of Arachnids. A most singular mite was discovered by New 

 port on the body of a larva of a wild bee, and described by him 

 under the name of Heteropus ventricosus. The body of the 

 fully formed female is long and slender. After attaining this 

 form, its small abdomen begins to enlarge until it assumes a 

 globular form, and the mass of mites look like little beads. Mr. 

 Newport was unable to discover the male, and thought that this 

 mite was parthenogenous. It will be seen that the adult Dem- 

 oclex retains the elongated, worm-like appearance of the larva 

 of the higher mites, such as Typhlodromus. This is an indica 

 tion of its low rank, and hints of a relationship to the Tardi- 

 grades and the Tentastoma, the latter being a degraded mite, 

 and the lowest of its order, living parasitically within the bodies 

 of other animals. 



