1890.] ACARINA FHOM ALGERIA. 415 



hood, an excursion was made to the high mountain-district of the 

 Djurdjura at Fort National. On leaving Algiers I continued west- 

 ward to Blidah, and again reached the coast at Cherchel, then to 

 the hill-country of Hammam E'hira (well known as a collecting- 

 place for Coleoptera) and Milianah ; thence inland to the cedar- 

 forest of Teniet-el-Ahd, some parts of which are ahout 5000 feet 

 ahove the level of the sea, then to Tlemcen at the extreme west (or 

 Moroccan) border of Algeria, and finally to the port of Oran. 



The first thing that struck me was the entire absence, in this 

 order of creatures, of that teeming life which one might have hoped 

 to find in a southern countr}' ; the species were, I think, fewer in 

 number, and certainly there were fewer specimens of each species 

 than I should usually find under equally favourable circumstances 

 during a search of similar length in England ; nor do the species 

 which are not British appear to be larger or more robust than those 

 found in England. Very little is known of the Acarina of tropical 

 or southern extra-European lands : the parasitic Ixodidse get sent 

 home to Museums, and they attain a comparatively large sige ; but 

 with this exception I have found that such species as I have been 

 able to obtain from the warmer parts of the world have not, on the 

 ■average, been larger or more conspicuous than the British or Mid- 

 European. 



Another thing which struck me was the absence of any types 

 which are, I will not say African, because we are entirely ignorant 

 what, if any, the African types are, but of any types sufficiently 

 different from the European to necessitate a new genus. Of course 

 we should expect the bulk of the species to be identical with those 

 inhabiting Southern Europe ; and so they are, but we might have 

 anticipated that a few would have been found departing more 

 widely from their European relatives. In spite of this there are 

 several new species, and some of these are curious and interesting. 



The collection, with one single exception, consists wholly of 

 Oribatidas ; the exception is a remarkable creature, and forms a 

 second species of the singular genus Oceculus, which will not fit into 

 any of the existing families, and has hitherto consisted of one 

 species only. In addition to these I found one or two Gamasidae 

 and Trombididfe, but only scattered specimens of species which are 

 extremely abundant in England and most other parts of Europe. I 

 have not thought it worth while to record these. I think the season 

 must have been favourable for searching all parts except the very 

 elevated districts such as Eort National and Teniet-el-Ahd ; it was 

 rather early for these. Somewhat to my surprise there was a 

 remarkable absence of all Acarine life in the truly southern vege- 

 tation, such as palms, bananas, prickly pears, &c., both when 

 growing and in decay. 



I had not any opportunity of collecting the parasitic species of 

 Acari nor the Water-Mites. 



The collection consists of forty-four species belonging to fifteen 

 genera. Of these species eight are new to science, twenty-five 

 are found in Britain, and the remainder are natives of Southern 



