252 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



connection with its cousins, the Spiders and Harvestmen. 

 Well, fortunately, we need not search far for specimens; 

 for here, in the cavity of this almost defunct skeleton of 

 a cheese, we can find as many millions as you can reason- 

 ably desire to select from. Here is a fat one; we'll take 

 him. 



You see with a pocket lens that it has a plump, pol- 

 ished oval body, of a pellucid white hue, and eight short 

 red legs; but for more than this we must go to the tube. 

 Look at him now, as he lies on his back, helplessly sprawl- 

 ing and throwing his feeble legs about, in the live -box. 



His oval body is divided by a transverse furrow into 

 thorax and abdomen, like a Beetle's; and there is another 

 division between the head and thorax, wherein it differs 

 from the Spiders. The first two pairs of legs are separated 

 by an interval from the last two pairs; they are all of a 

 translucent pale red hue, as is also the head : each consists 

 of seven short joints, the last of which has a sort of heart- 

 shaped pad, something like a horse's hoof, and a single 

 hooked claw, which works against its sole. 



The structure of the head cannot be seen satisfactorily 

 otherwise than by crushing the Mite in the compressorium; 

 a process which, when we remember how many thousands 

 we crush down in our oral compressorium every time we 

 eat ripe cheese, need not excite much compunction. We 

 must put a drop of water between the plates, in order to 

 wash away the opaque granules which will escape from 

 the bodies of the animals, when the skin, and all the solid 

 parts, will be left beautifully clear and distinct. More- 

 over, by putting half a dozen specimens in at once, we 

 shall secure them pressed in various aspects, and be pretty 

 sure of some perfectly flat and symmetrical 



