Miscellaneous. 79 



The remainder of Herr Eit soma's remarks being to a great extent 

 based upon suppositions, I shall content myself with answering his 

 direct statements. He says that the anal tuft entirely covers the 

 sexual organs ; this is not the case with any of the specimens which 

 I have examined, whether of Crinodes, Dudusa, or Tarsohpis. 



'As to the probability of a long curved brush of carmine hairs being 

 concealed about the body of a Crinodes, it is to my mind more pre- 

 posterous than it would be were our discussion respecting the iden- 

 tity of the Philippine Eusemia bamhusina and the South- American 

 Limnas zoega, to suggest that the difference consisted in the Eusemia 

 having concealed the red spots towards the base of the wings*. 



If the size of the body is dependent upon sex, it is evident that 

 C. Sommeri must be a male ; but as Herr Ritsema is avowedly work- 

 ing principally with Mr. Snellen's male, which agrees in all the most 

 important characters with Hiibners figure, it does not signify to 

 what sex the type of C. Sommen belongs. It now seems highly pro- 

 bable that Herr llitsema actually has the Hiibneriau species, whilst 

 it is more evident than ever that I have not. 



The inaccui-acies stated to exist in Hiibner's figures are easily ex- 

 plicable when we know that figs. 1 and 2 represent the opposite 

 surfaces of C. Sommeri, and that in fig. 2 hardly any of the inner 

 margin is visible, so that it is impossible to decide whether it is 

 waved or not. The mention of diflferences in the hind wings of fig. 1 

 is mere carping. 



I have now no more to say on this subject until I have seen Hiib- 

 ner's type. If the two genera come from Java, they will probably 

 add another to the numerous illustrations of mimetic analogy already 

 on record ; I shall not, therefore (until I have proof of some such 

 interesting fact, by a comparison of the actual type with Javan 

 specimens), encroach further upon the patience of the readers of 

 this magazine. 



Oil a Mite in tlie Ear of the Ox. 



Prof. Leidy remarked that he had received a letter from Dr. Charles 

 S. Turnbull, in which he stated that while studying the anatomy of 

 the ear he had discovered in several heads of steers, at the bottom 

 of the external auditory meatus, a number of small living parasites. 

 They were found attached to the surface of the niembrana tympani. 

 Sjiecimeiis of the parasite preserved in glycerine, and a petrosal bone 

 with the membrana tym]:)aui to which several of the parasites were 

 clinging, were also sent for examination. These ])rovc to be a mito 

 or Acarus, apparently of the genus Gamasvs. The body is ovoid, 

 translucent white, about three fifths of a line long, and two fifths of 

 a line wide. The limbs, jaws, and their appendages are brown and 

 bristled ; the body is smooth or devoid of bristles. The limbs are 

 from two fifths to half a line long. The feet are terminated by a 

 five-lobed disk and a pair of claws; the j)alpi are six-jointed; the 



* In other respects these two insects are as much alike as in most cases 

 of actual mimicry. 



