Acaridea. 6 461 



as in an envelope of mould. Thus, even in its death, the creature 



proclaimed its ichthyac character. 



Edward Newman. 



An Acarus injurious to Orchids. — For several years past the beautiful tribe of 

 Orchids cultivated in this country have been troubled with what has been termed 

 the " Orchid disease." No one knew the cause of this so-called disease, or its cure : 

 about twelve months ago it was very bad in several valuable collections of these plants ; 

 it was then recommended to place the plants in a drier atmosphere and give them a 

 higher degree of temperature ; this was certainly beneficial, but it did not indicate the 

 cause. The drier atmosphere dried up the decaying tissues of the leaves, caused by 

 the puncturing of the insect I am about to describe : this left the leaves full of brown 

 blotches, which of course very much impaired the functions of the plants, not to mention 

 the unsightly appearance. About the 16th of January I was shown what appears to 

 be the cause of this disease ; several plants had been observed to be what is called 

 " going wrong : " this led to the investigation of them with a lens ; the little Acari 

 were then detected busily engaged in their work of destruction, puncturing the leaves 

 with their beak-like nostrums and sucking out the vital juices of the leaves. As soon 

 as they have sucked out their food from one part they move on to another more healthy 

 portion of the leaf; they are not to be found where there is decay or the leaf has 

 been drained of its vital fluid, which shows that these creatures have nothing to do with 

 the decay of the leaves, — that is, they are not attracted by the decaying vegetable 

 tissues, but feed on the healthy sap. This apterologous creature appears to be unde- 

 scribed: it is undoubtedly an East Indian species, and has been imported with the 

 plants on which it feeds. The following is a description of it, and I have called it 



Acarus Orchid arum. 



A. rubro-miniatus, dorso nigro bilineato curvato, ovato-ellipticus antice acumi- 

 natus, postice elougato-obtusus, depressus, subtillissime corrugatus, margin i- 

 bus pubescentibus striatis, disco in mare carinato, pedibus rufescentibus 

 pallidioribus articulis subspinosis. 5 — 3 lin. 



Ovato-elliptical, depressed; the back of the male running up into a strong keel 

 or dorsal ridge; the female is without it. The body striated and flattened on the 

 margin, so as to admit of the creature adhering closely to the leaves, similar to a 

 female Coccus; the margin finely pubescent. The male is of a vermilion-red colour 

 and marked on the back with a black line, which encloses a fiddle-shaped space. The 

 female is paler and rather larger, being of a yellower colour ; the lines on the back 

 irregular and broken into dots ; the dorsal ridge obsolete ; the legs pale reddish yellow; 

 the articulations set with spines. — Edward Parjilt ; 4, Weirfield Place, St. Leonards, 

 Exeter, February 7, 1859. 



Occurrence of Vanessa Antiopa at Torquay. — A very fine specimen of Vanessa 

 Aniiopa occurred here 011 the 26th of December last; it had settled on an iron railing 



