20 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP 



\'I. — Limiiesia iviiita.'a Kocnil-.e, 1895. 



Kkmai.k.— BoiiY : Ralher more circular than in 

 the preceding miles nicnlioned. Lenglli aboin 

 076 mm. Breadth alioiil o'69 mm. Colour, yellow , 

 with darker markings. 



Legs. — First pair about 0.4S mm., fourth pair 

 about o.So mn). There is not anything about them 

 requiring; a special figure. Colour same as body, 

 yellow, very pale. 



F'er- 'i- 



Fig. 14. 



^'ff* *.!• — LitftHcsia ^ot'ni^fi. Palpus, showing pkc. 

 Fig. n.~Limntsia coimala, Gemtai. Plates of Female. 



K]'lMF.K.-\. — Similar in shape to fig. 9, except that 

 the first pair of plates curve under the mouth organs, 

 nearly meeting in the centre. The discs on the inner 

 angle of the last pair of epimera are also placed in a 

 similar position to those on fig. 9 and fig. 2. This 

 will render the identification of this species easy from 

 LiiiDiisia kociiikci (see fig. II), for which at first sight 

 it may be mistaken. 



Pai.1'1. — About 0-32 mm. Same colour as other 

 parts of this mite. 



Gexi'ial Plates. — In these will be seen a great 

 difference, the discs being very small (fig. 14), two 

 being close together near posterior margin of plate. 



Male. — This is, as usual, a little smaller than the 

 female, but is the same in all particulars, except in 

 the genital plates. These are very much like the 

 male plates of i. hislrionita (fig. 4) with the fringe 

 of hairs round their margin : but the two pairs of discs 

 at the posterior end of the plates are closer together. 

 It can easily be recognised from the male L. Itoenikci 

 by this fringe, the male L. kacmkci being without it. 



Localities.— Found by Mr. Scourfield in the 

 I-ik'e District, July, 1S9S. It is not a common mite. 

 (To be continued.) 



The New F.R.S.— The following candidates 

 selected by the Council of the Royal Society for this 

 year will be elected in the ordinar)' course. W. I'. 

 Barrett, physicist ; Charles Booth, eminent in social 

 science ; David Bruce, bacteriologist Henry John 

 Morstman Fenlon. chemist; James Sykes Gamble, 

 Indian foresty ; Alfred Cort Maddon, zoologist and 

 anthropologist: llenrj' Ileail, anatomist; Conevy 

 Lloyd Morgan, bi(j|ogisi and geologist ; Clement Reid, 

 geologist ; Ilenry Selby llele Shaw, engineer ; Frnest 

 jlenr)- Starling, physiologist; Henr)' W. Lloyd 

 Tanner, mathamelician and astnmomer ; Richard 

 Threlfall. physicist ; Alfred E. Tutlon, mineralogist ; 

 Bertram C. A. Windle, analomi.st. 



With a few prominent exceptions, well known for 

 their eminent scientific work, most of these gentlemen 

 will Im; Ijelter recogniseil in theii respective sphere.s 

 than by our general readers. 



AX XELI US \ K.\ R 151 RAI I XGl LA M. 



A T a meeting of the Hiological Section of the 

 ■^ ^ Hirmingham Natural History and Philosophical 

 Society, held on May 9th, Mr. Hildric Friend made 

 a communication on the Annelids of Sutton Park. 

 Mr. Friend staled that the Annelids with which he 

 was to deal fell under two main heads. First, there 

 were the earthworms or Lumbricidae. There were 

 supposed to be eight or ten species in Great Britain, 

 when Darwin's book on " Vegetable Mould and 

 Earthworms" was published, but Mr. I'Viend had 

 raised the numlicr to twenty-four species, one-third of 

 which he had already found in Sutton Park. There 

 were there : Liim/iritiis hcniilcus, L. nthc/liis, /.. 

 castaiteus ; .-l//oM>i>f>hora /<ro/ii:;n, .!. t<;//^7'«o,vn, .-1. 

 ehloi-oliia and .-/. sahnihicumia, with .lUiiiiiis 

 tetniednis. 



The second group included the water-worms and 

 white wc5rms or Euchytracids. Omitting the Naids, 

 some of which had been studied by Mr. Bolton, these 

 small worms belonged to three families, the Tubi- 

 ficidae, Lunibriculidae, and Euchytraci<lae. 'J'ubifcc 

 viviitonun was common ; also Limiiodritiis ivords- 

 ■ui'orthianus, a worm at present known only in Great 

 Britain and first described by Mr. ]'"riend a year or 

 two ago, from Cumberland. Liiiiih)iai/ii(s varic};afiis 

 undoubtedly occurs, as SlylodrilKS vcjdovskii, and 

 what appears to be an undescribed species of Slylo- 

 driliis, which may prove to be new to science. 

 iW'sciiihyfraciis is represented by at least one species, 

 probably N. Jlaznts. Hcnlea and Binhhohia also by 

 one each at least, while Eiichylraeiis /larz'uliis is of 

 special interest because it ha,s been lately proved to be 

 a ver)' injurious pest. Fridcncia, a genus known 

 among other things by its setae being shortest in the 

 middle is represented by two or three well marlvcd 

 species. F. agricola has recently been suspected of 

 doing damage to grass, and /•'. magna one of the 

 largest known Euchytracids is new to science. It was 

 found at Easter by Mr. Friend in Cumberland and at 

 Sutton Park, and will be described at an early date. 

 It is chiefly remarkable (l) for its size, being often 

 more than an inch in length, (2) its setae in four pairs 

 as in the typical Lumbrici, and (3) its spermathecae 

 with large glands at the opening. 



Mr. Friend stated that he had examined twenty 

 species of worms, and as this was the result of two 

 brief visits to the Park, the number would doubtless 

 be greatly augmented b_\- further exploration. 



11. il. Bi.oo.MER, Hon. Sec. 



Health Kicsorts oi- Britain. — In iui address 

 before the British Balneolugical and Climatological 

 .Society, on April 27th, Sir llermann Weber, M.I)., 

 gave an exhaustive analysis of the climate of the 

 health resorts of Britain, iMnipared with those of the 

 Continent. His opinion is ilial our sunmier resorts 

 are more desirable than those of the Continent, but 

 the reverse is the case in winter. 



