Further Notes on British Orihatidas. By A. D. Michael. 17 



There is a deep depression between the hinder part of the cephalo- 

 thorax and the abdomen. 



The legs are very remarkable, or at least the first pair is. 

 They are by no means so long as is usual in the genus Damseus, 

 and the forms of the pieces are singular. The coxae are not visible 

 from the dorsal aspect, and the expansion of the cephalothorax 

 above mentioned has a deep cleft to admit the upward motion of 

 the thin proximal end of the so-called trochanters of the first pair of 

 legs. This joint is greatly enlarged. The first two pairs of legs 

 have the so-called femurs very short, with a short, thin, proximal, 

 and a much broader, almost square, distal end. The tibiae of the 

 first pair of legs are the pieces which render the legs exceptional ; 

 they are globes which appear disproportionately large, and are 

 borne on extremely short and very thin proximal ends. The tarsi 

 are all pyriform, and thickly clothed with hairs. The enlarged 

 tibia bears a long tactile hair. 



The abdomen is elliptical, slightly pointed posteriorly, and 

 strongly truncated in front ; its antero-lateral angles are produced 

 into well-marked points, which curve towards the stigmata, so that 

 from the dorsal aspect two open spaces are seen, bounded on the 

 outside by these points, and anteriorly by the coxae of the third 

 pair of legs. Immediately behind the anterior margin there is a 

 broad, rounded, transverse elevation, not reaching the lateral 

 margin. Behind this is a deep, linear depression, and then the 

 centre of the abdomen, until within a quarter of its length from 

 the hind margin, is occupied by a domed lump, followed by a 

 smaller one, which touches the hind margin. Exterior to these 

 elevations the abdomen is a broad, almost flat, expansion, which 

 seems to form a flat annulus round the central elevation. At the 

 extreme edge of this is a narrow, rough ridge. The annulus curves 

 downward towards the margin, but not very strongly. The whole 

 surface of the abdomen is rough and irregularly sprinkled with 

 raised dots, which are far largest and most conspicuous on the 

 central lump. 



Tlie Nymph. 



This is also rather a complicated creature, not very easy to 

 describe. The colour is light oak-brown, with a tendency to a 

 grey dusty efiect over the raised parts of the skin. The texture is 

 a little like fine shagreen, and the general outline is a shield-shaped 

 abdomen surmounted by a bluntly conical cephalothorax. 



The cephalothorax is rather more than one -third of the whole 

 length ; at its base it is nearly as wide as the abdomen. The 

 rostrum is rounded anteriorly, and slightly truncated. A blunt 

 point on each side of the truncation carries the curved rostral hair. 

 The cephalothorax appears arranged in three spaces, which, com- 



Ser. 2.— Vol. II. 



