December, 1905. 



A NEW IRISH MITE, 



EOHMANNIA liVSIGNIS, BER^EvSR. 

 BY PROF. GEORGE H. CARPENTER, B.SC, M.R I.A. 

 (Pr.ATK 7). 



[Read before the Dublin Naturalists' I'leld Club, T4tli November, 1905.] 



In June, 1904, I received from Mr. J. Bell, gardener at 

 Tibraddeii House, near Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, seedlings of 

 Kidne}' Beans with the roots badly gnawed on the surface. 

 The work of devastation was due in part to springtails of the 

 genera Achor^des'^\\^ Zz]^?^rrt', and in parr to elongate, light- 

 brown mites, about i mm. in length, which were crawling 

 over the roots, and biting up the epidermis with their 

 clielicerse. The appearance and habits of these mites were 

 suggestive of large Tyroglyphidae, but microscopic examina- 

 tion soon showed that the}^ possessed the peculiar 

 pseudostigmatic organs (Plate 7, fig. 4) that characterise the 

 Oribatidae or " Beetle-mites," and that they must therefore be 

 referred to that family. It soon became clear that they did 

 not belong to any species described in Michael's well-known 

 monograph of the British Oribatidse\ and I took the oppor- 

 tunity of showing specimens to Mr. Cecil Warburton, who 

 happened to be in Dublin ?^bout that time. He expressed the 

 opinion that they represented a species new to science, be- 

 longing or closely allied to Michael's genus LoJunannia. 



About twelve months previously a number of Irish mites 

 collected b) Mr. J. N. Halbert and myself, had been sent for 

 identification to Dr. A. Berlese the eminent Italian acarinolo- 

 gist. A week or two afterwards he sent to us a copy of a paper^ 

 in which he had described from an Irish specimen the verj^ 

 species that was puzzling us ! He had referred it to the 

 genus Lohmannia, naming it insignis- I have given a short 



1 A. D. Michael ''British Oribatidce," 2 vols. I^oiidou (Ray Society, 

 1883-7. 



2 A. Berlese. "Acari Nuovi," Mauipulus 3. Redia. vol. ii., 1904, pp. 

 ID 32, pis. I, 2. 



A 



