TARDIGKADA: PACIFIC ISLANDS 158 



E. viridis has been known for many years. The first specimens seen were empty 

 skins, and it was considered unsafe to put any importance on the colour of the dead 

 animals. The colour alone could not be considered of specific value, as it might be 

 due to disease, and could only be regarded as having any weight if the animal 

 showed other peculiarities. These we find in the nature of the dots, the very short 

 head setae, and the very large claws. 



The animal was first found alive in Hawaii, and it was seen that the plates had 

 the distinctive colour in life, and possessed the other peculiarities which had been 

 noticed in the green skins previously observed. 



It appears, then, to be a good species, and the olive colour seems to be constant 

 and characteristic. Disregarding the green colour there is no species with which it 

 could be united. There are but few species having V. and VI. joined, and no 

 processes after seta a. E. wendti and E. reticulatus have the seta a very long, and 

 the latter has the surface reticulate and the spine on the front leg very long. 

 E, arctomys has no fringe. E. kerguelensis and E. sylvamis have very fine dots on 

 the plates. E. macronyx (38), which has similar large claws, has the surface finely 

 punctate, and there are no barbs on the claws. The other species of the group differ 

 conspicuously, and need not be compared. 



Habitat. Among moss from the bush near the City of Honolulu, Island of 

 Oahu, Sandwich Islands. Previously found at the margins of two Scottish lochs 

 (Ness and Morar). 



The dots on the plates vary somewhat in size, though always large ; the figure 

 shows them of the largest size. 



Echiniscus spinulosus, Doyere (2) (Plate XIX. Fig. 38) 



Although differing from Doyere's species in one important point, viz., that the two 

 dorsal processes, over c and d, are small spicules instead of long spines, I do not 

 feel justified in making this Hawaiian form a distinct species. The dorsal processes 

 vary more than any others in relative size. In a large series of specimens of 

 E. duboisi, a species closely related to this one, and like it having only spines on the 

 body, I have seen the dorsal processes vary from spicules to long spines. As the 

 Hawaiian examples have some distinct characters, not noticed in Doyere's description, 

 a full description is here given. These are in the surface texture of the plates, and 

 have been insufficiently attended to in descriptions of species. 



Description. Size moderate, length 250ft exclusive of the legs. Plates nine, two 

 pairs, two median. The surface texture is very striking. The dots appear very 

 distinctly as perforations, some large and some small, with irregular wide spaces 

 between. On each plate of the pairs the dots are confined to two areas, separated 

 by a plain band on which there are no dots. The anterior area, along the border of 

 the plate, is narrow, the posterior area occupies more than half the plate. 



BK1T. ANTARCT. EXPED. 1907-9. VOL. I. X 



