ARANE^ 345 



Lephthyphantes tenuis, Blackwall 



This species was taken by Comte de Dalmas (in 1912-13) in the 

 interior of the Canterbury and Nelson districts, and also in the interior 

 of the North Island (" dans la seule region encore uniquement peuplee 

 d'indigenes Maori"). 



Lycosa piratica, Clerck 



This species was recorded by Mons. E. Simon in 1899 from the 

 shores of Cook Strait. 



Order ACARINA 



Sub-order VERMIFORMIA 



Family Demodicidje 



Demodex folliculorum, Owen. Hair-follicle Mite 



Abundant from the earliest days, but whether the mite was found 

 among the Maoris, or was introduced by Europeans it is quite im- 

 possible to ascertain. 



Demodex folliculorum, Owen, var. canis 



This cosmopolitan mite is common among dogs in New Zealand 

 and sometimes causes follicular mange. 



Demodex folliculorum, Owen, var. suis (D. phylloides, Cooker) 

 Occurs among pigs; occasionally producing a pustular affection. 



Sub-order ASTIGMATA 



Family Sarcoptid^ 



Sar copies scabiei, De Geer. The Itch Mite 



This mite has long been known in New Zealand, and was probably 

 introduced in the earliest days of settlement. 



The following, communicated to me by Mr Elsdon Best (June, 

 1 91 8) may refer to this parasite: 



The hakihaki, a form of itch, which developed into a distressing skin- 

 disease, was pre-European. In many parts one now hears little of it among 

 the natives, but it was among the Urewera in the nineties. 



eight years previously by tiie same author for Linyphia melanopygia of the Antipodes, 

 that they seem to apply to a single species; more especially as L. melanopygia, 

 founded on a single incomplete male, has been rediscovered in abundance by 

 Urquhart, who rectifies the difference of the ocular group, figured by Cambridge 

 with the median anterior eyes contiguous, instead of being separated almost by 

 the width of their diameter. The two species belong in any case to one genus, 

 which seems to be close to Microneta ; if they are indeed a single species, then this 

 one, common in New Zealand, but very rare and discovered only recently in England, 

 would appear to be, in contradistinction to the others, accidentally imported into 

 Europe." 



