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SOME BRITISH EARTHMITES. 



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

 Kirton-in-Lindsey. 



Mr. C. L. Koch in his Uebersicht des Arachnidea Systems, 

 published in 1837, divides his Schnabelmilben or Bdelhdes 

 into five 'orders '. His first order, Bdella, contains fifteen species; 

 his second order he names Ammonia, and includes five species. 

 The mite I am now dealing with is not one of these five, but 

 belongs to this order. The name Ammonia is objected to by 

 N. Banks in his Treatise on the Acarina (1904), as being not 



l.—Cyta lutea n. sp. x 31. 



2.— Palpus X 123. 



3.— Mandible x 150. 



only later, but pre-occupied, and uses instead the name Cyta. 

 My mite I therefore call Cyta lutea. In size it is rather small, 

 in figure it is oval. The proboscis is wider and shorter than 

 that of any ordinary Bdella, and is joined to the body without 

 any appreciable neck ; by comparing the figure of this mite with 

 Mr. Soar's drawing of Bdella hexopthalma (see The Naturalist 

 for February last), the general difference of appearance between 

 Bdella and Cyta is very obvious. In colour it is yellow, with 

 brownish indefinite markings ; but the most striking difference 

 is in the eyes, which are black in colour, and five in number, 

 two on each side of the cephalothorax, and a central one, near 

 the base of the proboscis on the cephalothorax ; a mounted 

 specimen shows these eyes very clearly. In consequence 



Naturalist, 



