204 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



NEW BRITISH TICKS. 



By E. G. Wheler. 



rjlHE following additions may be made to the 

 -*- list of British ticks lately recorded in SciENCE- 

 <Gossip (ante, p. 103). 



IXODES TEXUIROSTRIS Neumann. 

 Male. Length 1.83 mm. Light brown, margin 

 lighter, nearly white. Capitulum slightly dis- 

 tended laterally. Palpi wide apart at the base, 

 though in less degree than in the female. Coxae 

 of all legs without spines or tubercles. Apparent 

 sexual orifice opposite the space between the 

 second and third pairs of legs. Ventral shield 

 large. Tarsi short and truncate. Labium and 

 palpi very short and wide. 



Ixodes tenuirostris. Male. 



The male of this species has not hitherto been 

 described. I am indebted to Mr. Pocock, of the 

 British Museum, for kindly lending me a speci- 

 men preserved in spirits, recently taken from a 

 long-tailed vole (Arvioola pratensis) near Swansea. 

 The species occurs on the short-tailed vole, A. 

 agrestis, and doubtfully on the water vole. 



As it has now been taken in Gloucestershire, 

 Northumberland; and ill South Wales, it must be 

 widely distributed, and will probably prove to be 

 by no means uncommon. It appears to confine its 

 attacks entirely to the voles. This species is the 

 most minute of the British ticks. It resembles 

 I. hexagonus in general appearance, but is much 

 smaller, and can be at once recognised by the 

 greater width between the palpi at their base than 

 at their extremities, which touch, and thus give 

 the idea of grasping, the labium. 



IXODES PUTUS Cambridge. 



Mr. Pocock has taken a number of females of 

 this species from a dead puffin at Morthoe, in 

 North Devon. This is its second occurrence in 

 England. The male is as yet unknown. The 

 characteristic shape of the dorsal shield, which is 

 well shown in the figure of the nymph, ante p. 71, 

 is the chief distinguishing feature of the female. 



Swansjield House, Alnwick. 



NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON. 



Zoology : an Elementary Text-book. By A. E. 

 Shipley, M.A., and E. W. MacBride, M.A., D.Sc. 

 xxi + 632 pp., 9 in. x (3 in., with 349 illustrations. 

 (Cambridge : The University Press. 1901.) 10s. 6d. 



This is a volume in the " Biological Series of 

 Cambridge Natural Science Manuals," of which 

 Mr. Arthur E. Shipley, M.A., is the general editor, 

 as well as joint author of the work before us. We 

 understand that this is to be considered as an 

 elementally treatise on zoology, in which the tech- 

 nical terms are explained as they occur, and in 

 many cases their derivations are given, so as to 

 help the beginner. The plan aimed at in pro- 

 ducing this book is one of progression, so that the 

 reader will find it necessary to begin at the com- 

 mencement and study the sequence, by which means 

 he will be led to a general knowledge of the 

 normal structure of recent animals in the adult 

 form. Wherever possible the student is shown 

 how that form has been the outcome of functional 

 habit. In this connection some reference is. made 

 to embryology and palaeozoology. The animals 

 chosen as representatives are generally members 

 of the British and North American faunas. 

 Although written in a popular manner, this work 

 is really founded on the most modern scientific 

 teaching, the latest terminology being adopted 

 throughout. It is very liberally illustrated, which 

 cannot fail to be helpful to those who may rightly 

 take the work as a standard manual on the subject. 

 Although to some extent a text-book, it is far 

 above those which are used only for cramming 

 young students to pass examinations, being one 

 that will be valuable for reference in later years. 



Lectures and Essays. By the late William 

 Kingdom Clifford, F.R.S. Edited by Leslie 

 Stephen and Sir Frederick Pollock. 751 pp., 

 7^ in. x 4| in. In two vols., with portrait. 

 (London : Macmillan & Co. 1901.) 10s. 



Already two editions of these essays have 

 appeared, and a third. is a further indication of 

 their popularity. They are indeed the charming 

 work of a delightful man, to know whom was a 

 privilege. In the hands of two such able editors 

 this edition should become a standard work on the 

 shelves not only of the man of science, but also of 

 the general reader. 



A Catalogue of the Lipidoptera of Ireland. 

 By W. F. De Vismes Kane, xvi + 166 pp., 8| in. 

 x 5^ in., with coloured plate. (London : West, 

 Newman & Co. 1901.) 10s. 



Readers of the " Entomologist " have for some 

 time past been familiar with articles on the 

 lepidopterous fauna in Ireland. These have now 

 been arranged and published in complete form, 

 embellished with a coloured plate, showing some 

 of the local forms so peculiar to that country. The 

 list is prefaced with an introduction that will lie 

 found of much use, both from the historical and 

 biological points of view. 



