34 BRITISH TYROGLYPHIDJE. 



In 1894 Nathan Banks published a classification* of 

 the Acarina, which is as follows : 



1. Body vermiform, often with but four legs, living in galls or 



in flesh. Very minute forms . . DJESMODECOiDEA.f 



Not living in galls or flesh, adults with eight legs . . 2 



2. Water-mites, soft-bodied, mostly parasitic . HYDRACHNOIDEA. 

 Land-mites . . . . . .3 



3. No stigmata (atracheate) ; body soft ; legs supported by 



chitinous rods ; no eyes ; mostly parasitic forms PSOROPTOIDEA. 

 Stigmata present (tracheate), no chitinous rods visible . 4 



4. Last joint of palpus forming a thumb or appendage ; body 



soft, stigmata at base of mandibles, mostly free TE.OMBIDOIDEA. 

 Last joint of palpus simple . . . .5 



5. Stigmata above on the cephalothorax each with a seta ; body 



coriaceous ; cephalothorax very distinct from abdomen ; no 

 eyes; non-parasitic . . . OEIBATOIDEA. 



Stigmata not above and without setae. Body usually partly 

 soft. . . . . .6 



6. Mandibles forming a serrate proboscis. Body hard; no sucker 



at tip of tarsus; eyes sometimes present; large parasitic 

 species ..... IXODOIDEA. 



Mandibles not forming a serrate proboscis ; smaller species . 7 



7. Stigmata between legs two and three, often with hard plates ; 



legs with a sucker at tip, no eyes . GAMASOIDEA. 



Stigmata at base of mandibles ; body wholly soft ; no sucker 

 at tip of legs ; eyes often present . . EUPODOIDEA. 



Banks calls these divisions " Super-families." The 

 classification is only intended to apply to the Acarina 

 of the United States of America, but a division of the 

 super-families Trombidoidea and Eupodoidea into 

 families and genera is given, and that of the Oribatoidea 

 is published in a subsequent paper. J 



This classification, although later in date and pos- 

 sessing some good points, cannot be considered as an 

 advance upon those of Canestrini and Trouessart; 

 indeed, it is far behind them. It does not present 

 much in the way of novelty except the question of 

 size, which it is scarcely desirable to import into a 

 classification, and the extent to which habitat is relied 

 on ; another element which seems to me to have an 



* " Some new American Acarina," in ' Tr. Amer. Ent. Soc.,' vol. xxi 

 (June, 1894), pp. 209222. 



t The " s " in this word must probably be a printer's error. 



I " On the Oribatoidea of the United States," in Tr. Amer. Ent. 

 Soc.,' vol. xxii (January, 1895), pp. 1 16. 



