292 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



BRITISH FRESHWATER MITES. 



By Charles D. Soar, F.R.M.S. 



GENUS CURVIPES KOENIKE. 



(Continued from page 267.) 



IV. — Cutvipes fuscatus Hermann, 1804. 



Female: Body.— Rather long and narrow (fig. 19), 

 about 1-30 mm. in length, 114 mm. wide. The por- 

 tion where the eyes are situated projects forward 

 from the marginal line at a fig. 19. In colour it 

 is a very dark-brown red, madder brown being the 

 nearest colour which I can use in comparisen. 



Legs long and thin, otherwise very much the 

 same as the legs of other species of this genus. 

 First leg is about 1 28 mm. in length, and the 

 fourth leg is about 144 mm. In colour the legs 

 are much lighter than the body, and more red. 



Epimera, arranged about as usual in this genus, 

 but rather small in comparison to size of body, 



Fig. 19, C. fuscatus. — Ventral surface of female. 



and placed very forward. Colour, like all the 

 chitinous parts of this Hydrachnid, is red. 



Palpi, short and thick on the second joint. Their 

 length is only 050 mm. The fig. 20 is from the 

 right-hand palpus drawn from the inner side. 



i \ 



Fig. 20, C. fuscatus.— Inside surface 

 of right palpus. 



Fig. 21, C. fuscatus. — 

 Genital area of female. 



Genital Plates are quite different in shape 

 and arrangement from any of those before men- 

 tioned (fig. 21). The number of discs also varies 

 as usual. The typical number appears to be nine 

 or ten on each side. 



Male. — Smaller and rounder than the female 

 and not quite so dark in colour. Its external 

 structure exhibits much the same differences from 

 the female I have already mentioned in the other 



Fig. 22, C. fuscatus. —Ventral surface of male. 



species. The drawing of the ventral side of the 

 male (fig. 22) is intended to show how the third 

 pair of feet are often found locked in the genital 

 fissure of the male of this genus. 



Localities. — Curvipes fuscatus is sometimes found 

 in large numbers. In 1895, on Staines Common, 

 in the numerous small ponds there, I took nearly 

 100 specimens during one afternoon, while there 

 with a Quekett Club excursion. Its beautiful 

 dark colour makes it a very conspicuous object. 



Larva (fig. 23). — The drawing of the larval 

 form of this mite is from one hatched out in a tube 



C. fuscatus. — Larval stag 



at home, from ova deposited by an adult female. 

 The time, from the ova being deposited till the 



