2268 The Zoologist — August, 1870. 



Prof. Westwood made some observations on a very minute form of Acaridte, 

 to which he had already directed the attention of the Society (see Proc. Ent. 

 Soc. 1864, p. 30) ; they were about -j-^ of an inch in length, found in the 

 unopened buds of the black currant, the blossom of which they destroyed ; 

 they were elongate, cylindrical and fleshy, and possessed only four legs. 

 A somewhat similar form found in galls was some years ago described in 

 France ; and the Rev. M. J. Berkeley had recently called Prof Westwood's 

 attention to a third form which attacks pear trees, and makes small patches 

 or pustules on the leaves. At Oxford he had found many of these blotches, 

 and as many as thirty or forty Acari in a single blotch ; in some cases 

 there was a small opening in the leaf, but in the majority there was no 

 visible aperture ; perhaps the parent when depositing her eggs makes a small 

 hole which afterwards closes over. Notwithstanding the existence of only two 

 paii-s of legs, he thought these were a mature form ; and the three species 

 seemed to constitute a distinct four-footed tribe in the family Acaridae, 

 distinguished likewise by having the whole surface covered with minute 

 tubercles (like the parasite of the human nose) arranged in as many as sixty 

 transverse rows ; at any rate they required to be segregated under a separate 

 generic name, and he proposed that of Acarellus, the three species being 

 Acarellus pyri, A. ribis-nigri, and A. gallarum. 



Mr. Albert Miiller suggested that these* forms perhaps belonged to the 

 already-named genus Phytoptus or Phytopus, the species of which inhabit 

 excrescences of various plants, had at one stage of their existence only four legs, 

 and are closely allied to Simonea foUiculorum. He referred to papers by 

 Frauenfeld in Verb, zool.-botan. Ges. Wien., vol. xv. (1865), and Landois in 

 Zeitsch. f. wiss. Zool., vol. xiv. (1866). 



Papers read. 

 The following papers were read : — 



" Further Observations on the Relation between the Colour and the 

 Edibility of Lepidoptera and their Larvae"; by Mr. J. Jenner Weir. 



" List of Species in a Collection of Butterflies sent by Mr. Henry Ansell 

 from Kinsembo, South Western Africa"; by Mr. A. G. Butler. 



"Contributions to an Insect- Fauna of the Amazon Valley" (Coleoptera, 

 Cerambycidae) ; by Mr. H. W. Bates. 



" List of the Hymeuoptera collected by Mr. J. K. Lord in Egypt and 

 Arabia ; with Descriptions of the New Species"; by Mr. Francis Walker. 



New Part of ' Transactions^' 

 The second Part of the ' Transactions for the year 1870," published in 

 June, was on the Table. — J. W. D. 



