642 MR. A. D. MICHAEL ON THE [DeC. 1, 



was fairly common in the nests of T. ccespitum, but I never met with 

 it elsewhere. 



These were the only Gamasids which we found in the nests of 

 T. ccespitum. 



Another Ant whose nests were very common under the stones in 

 the same place was Aphcenogaster testaceopitosa, a somewhat larger 

 and almost black species. In its nest we found another Lcelaps, which 

 I believe to be unrecorded and propose to call L. myrmophila ; this 

 also is an active Arachnid, but its activity is not shown in springing 

 on the Ant, I never saw one upon an Ant during all my searches :^ 

 on the other hand, the Ant seemed to take considerable notice of 

 the mite, and when the nest was disturbed I frequently saw the 

 former pick up the latter in its mouth and carry it oiF to a place of 

 safet}', just as it did with its own pupffi and larvae, and as Ants are 

 said to do with some of the beetles which frequent their nests. This 

 Gamasid was tolerably common in the nests of the Aphcenogaster, 

 but I did not ever capture it elsewhere. So strictly were the three 

 species found in Corsica confined to the nests of the respective Ants 

 that when I saw the species of Ant I could tell at once what Gamasids 

 I was going to find. I did not see any species except L. myrmophila 

 in the nests of the Aphcenogaster, nor did I obtain any Gamasids 

 from the nests of such other species of Aots as I was able to search in 

 Corsica. 



After leaving Corsica I crossed Italy and spent the summer at 

 Igls, a small village about 1 100 feet above Innsbruck. The slopes of 

 the Patcherkofl, upon which the hamlet stands, are clothed with pine 

 and fir woods ; and amongst them ants' nests abound. I had consider- 

 able opportunities of searching them ; I, however, did not find there 

 the same species of Ants as in Corsica, nor did I see any specimen of 

 either of the three Gamasids which had inhabited their nests ; on 

 the other hand, we did find other Gamasids in the nests of other 

 Ants. 



In the first place, Mr. M. J. Michael brought in some specimens 

 of a largish Gamasid which he had found in the nest of some ants in 

 the ground ; this creature also seems to be unrecorded, and I propose 

 calling it Lcelaps Icevis. Unfortunately my cousin, expecting to find 

 plenty more, did not secure specimens of the Ant ; so that I cannot 

 say what species it associates with, for we were not successful in 

 finding it again. I therefore only know that it was found in an ants' 

 nest and that it does not appear to have been found elsewhere. 



One of the commonest Ants was Gamponotus herculeanus, a large 

 species which amongst other habitats seems specially partial to the 

 stumps of pine-trees which are left in the ground after the trees have 

 been felled. These stumps, both above and under ground, are con- 

 stantly riddled by the passages and chambers of the Ants, and such 

 nests, which I believe were made by race ligniperdus of the Ant, 

 proved perfect store-houses of Gamasids : not that every nest con- 

 tained Gamasids, far from it ; in many nests I could not find one ; but 

 in a considerable proportion of them the Arachnids were present in 

 substantial numbers, although not usually in great abundance, all of 



