304 



LINCOLNSHIRE FRESHWATER MITES. 



C. F. GEORGE, M.R.C.S., 

 Kirton-in-Liiidsey, Lincolnshire. 



Arrhenurus leuckarti Piersig-. This appears to be one of 

 the rare water mites. It was first described by Dr. Piersig^ in 

 1894 in Zool. Auz, V. 17, p. 114. It belongs to that savant's 

 second division of the Arrheiiiiri, i.e., the appendage to the 



body is not cyHndrical, or like a 

 tail, but broadest at the posterior 

 end, and somewhat narrower 

 where it joins the body, and 

 with a central, projecting- petiole 

 arising from its ventral side ; in 

 external anatomy it resembles 

 'A. maciilator Miiller' (a figure 

 and description of which may be 

 found in ' Science Gossip ' for 

 December 1882, p. 272) ; the 

 large, horn-like projections, on 

 the central portion of the posterior 

 part of the back, are united at 

 the base, and only divided at the 

 summit, as in A. mactilator \ the 

 hyaline membrane is also similar 

 to that of ' viaculator,' but the 

 petiole is very different, and forms 

 the easily-recognised distinction 

 between the two mites; in 'macii- 

 lator' it is chisel-shaped, with a slightly-curved posterior edge, 

 the external angles being only a little blunt, whilst in 'leuckarti' 

 it is broadened at the extremity and rounded and without angles, 

 unlike any well-known object I can think of (see lower figure) ; 

 in colour it is bluish-green. I have not heard of its being found 

 elsewhere in England. Mr. Soar drew the figures from one of 

 my specimens ; he also gave me the measurements, which are : — 

 Length of body, i'i2 mm.; breadth of body, 0*72 mm., length 

 of petiole, o'i4 mm. ,» » ^ 



BIRDS. 

 Curlew Sandpiper in Durham. — A couple of specimens 

 of the Curlew Sandpiper [Aiicyloclnliis siibarqiiatiis) were shot on 

 the coast between Sunderland and Seaham on 12th December 

 1902. — J. W. Fawcett, Satley, Darlington, ist April 1903. 



Natura!i>t, 



Arrhenurus leuckarti Piersig-. 



