ACARI FROM NEW ZEALAND. 



139 



are not any to the fourth pair, they are all separate. There is not any 

 sternum. Genital plates small and squarish, but curved anteriorly, placed 

 between the coxse of the fourth pair of legs ; anal plates larger, more 

 diamond-shaped, and near the posterior margin. There is a transverse row 

 of six moderate-sized, finely pectinated hairs behind them. 



Habitat. Four specimens from Mr. J. W. Baker's collection, New Zealand. 



NOTASPIS CAUDATA*, sp. n. (PL 19. figs. 11 & 12.) 



Colour lightish chestnut-brown. 



Texture highly polished. 



Cephalothorax roughly conical ; broad in consequence of the width of the 

 chitinized shelf Avhich bears the two anterior pairs of legs ; it is however 

 slightly narrowed on the ventral surface where it joins the abdomen. Rostrum 

 rounded at the tip ; it bears two pairs of rostral hairs, the upper of which 

 are the thicker and rather the longer. Lamellse narrow, straight blades on 

 edge, about half the length of the cephalothorax ; not much nearer together 

 at their anterior than at their posterior ends. No cusps. Translamella 

 a mere thickened line, except at the ends, where it adjoins the lamellae and 

 where the chitin is thicker and darker. Lamellar hairs long and fine, passing 

 the tip of the rostrum by nearly half their length ; inter-lamellar hairs very 

 similar, but standing upright. Pseudo-stigmatic organs minute globes on 

 very short peduncles, so short that no part of the organ reaches the dorsal 

 level. 



Legs of moderate length ; the first pair pass the tip of the rostrum by 

 about the length of their three distal joints, the fourth pair pass the tip 

 of the caudal projection of the abdomen by about half the length of the 

 tarsi ; the tibige are the longest joints, but in the fourth pair of legs the tarsi 

 are nearly as long. Claws tridactyle, almost, but not quite, homodactyle. 



Abdomen about a third longer than its width ; it is slightly truncated 

 anteriorly, but posteriorly is prolonged so as to form a short, conical, tail-like, 

 central projection which is the principal characteristic of the species ; it is 

 very unusual in the Orobatidse ; it arises solely from the dorsal plate, the 

 ventral plate is not prolonged. The abdomen is strongly curved laterally 

 and is arched on the dorsal surface, but not so strongly as in many species 

 of the genus. It has not any hairs or markings on the notogaster. The 



* Caudatus, tailed. 



