CHEYLETUS. 



289 



eggs. She lays a heap of them, and rests brooding over them, 

 guarding them from attack. The egg shells when empty are very 

 thin, but they reflect a brilliant blue light which attracts the eye 

 more readily than the insect itself, and leads to its discovery in 

 chinks and corners where we might not otherwise detect its 

 presence. 



Cheyletus mericourti {Laboidbcne, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 185 1. 

 Mericourli. Moq. Tand.). 



Acaropsis 



Chej-Ietus Mericourti, probably female. Copied from Laboulbfene's figure. 



M. Laboulbene (loc. cit.)has described this species as very closely 

 allied to the preceding; but the woodcut shows that in the armature 

 of the palpi it differs considerably from it. Three specimens of it 

 were found in the pus which flowed from an abscess in the ear of 

 a naval officer, consequent on an inflammation of the auditory 

 passage. It was near the Bank of Newfoundland that the incident 

 happened, but where the Cheyleti may originally have come from 

 does not appear, nor how they reached their singular destination. 



Koch, in his Deutschlands Crustaceen, has described four other 

 species of Cheyletus. Ch. casalis, which he regards as being 

 probably a variety of eruditus, Ch. venustissimus, Ch. hirundinis, 

 and Ch. marginatus. 



