152 J. MURRAY 



type. It is a question whether all three are not distinct species. There is no other 

 Echiniscus which shows such a range of variation of the surface texture. 



Description. Small, length about 190 to 220 M. Plates ten, two pairs, three 

 median. All the median divided by transverse lines into two nearly equal portions. 

 Both parts of the first median are dotted. In the second and third median only the 

 front portion was seen to be dotted. The posterior half of the third median is only 

 separated by a faint line from the lumbar plate. The plates of the pairs are each 

 traversed by a transverse furrow, separating anterior and posterior convex portions. 

 It is uncertain if the dots cease in the furrow. The lumbar plate is not trefoliate. It 

 is faceted, having a median and two lateral panels. 



The surface of the plates is marked with a fine reticulation, regularly hexagonal. 

 This is formed by the margins of contiguous shallow pits, as in E. reticulatus. These 

 are much smaller than in the Australian form of the species. It must be understood 

 that these pits are extremely difficult to observe. To show them by lines in the 

 drawing exaggerates their apparent importance. 



The seta a, at the base of the head, is relatively long. The smallest example 

 observed, 190 M in length, contained two nearly round eggs 40 p. in diameter. An 

 example of 21 i contained one narrow egg of 50 n by 32 /*. 



Echiniscus viridis, sp. n. (Plate XIX. Figs. 36a, 366) 



Specific characters. Large, stout ; plates ten, three median, two pairs, V. and 

 VI. joined ; colour of plates olive-green, dots darker green, regularly spaced, largest 

 in the centre of the body, and diminishing to the sides ; seta a very short, springing 

 from large conical papilla ; fringe of small teeth ; claws very large, inner with small 

 barbs ; small spine on first leg. 



General description. Length, 250 M, exclusive of the large stout legs, claws 25 n 

 long. The plates are very distinct, with clearly marked edges. Only the plates are 

 coloured green ; the interior of the body is of the usual Eclviniscus red. The colour 

 does not affect the bands of skin connecting the plates, but it does extend into the 

 fourth leg as far as the fringe ; beyond that is clear. The dots do not appear as 

 either pits or papillae, but simply as darker patches. They are very regularly 

 spaced, and are separated by spaces of about the same diameter as themselves. 



None of the plates is distinctly subdivided, but each plate of the pairs is divided 

 into three bands, the anterior and posterior darker, and the one between lighter, with 

 smaller dots. The first median is far separated from the shoulder plate, and near the 

 first pair. The third median is somewhat obscure, being little more than a dotted 

 area with obscure margins, close to the second pair. 



The claws are unusually large, being about one-tenth of the length of the body, 

 but there are species in which they are still longer (relatively). There is a palp near 

 the base of the fourth leg, and a very short spine on the first leg. 



