THE YOUNG 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



All communications to be sent to J. E. Egbson, 15 

 Northgate, Hartlepool; or to S. L. Mosley Beau- 

 mont Park, Huddersfield. 



Subscriptions for Vol. III. are now due. 

 Weekly numbers or monthly parts, 6s.; 

 with plain plates ; or 8s. with coloured 

 plates. The latter cannot be obtained 

 through the booksellers, but any one can 

 have their plates coloured on application 

 to the Editors. 

 W.H.D., Birmingham. — No. 2. is Capsella 

 Biirsa-pastoris, the Common Shepherd's 

 Purse. It is an exceedingly variable 

 plant. Yours is young and immature. 

 No. I. we cannot name from the unde- 



! veloped scrap sent. Send a mature speci- 



i men. 



' F. Kerry, Harwich. — Is thanked for a very 

 pretty pied variety of the Reed Bunting. 

 I killed by him at Harwich, and sent for 

 ' figuring. 



G. C. BiGNALL, Stonehouse. — Is thanked for 

 a sooty variety of the Common House 

 Mouse [Mus domestica.) He remarks that 

 all the mice in the house where it was 

 caught were of the same peculiar colour. 



"AT HOME.'' 



Liverpool. — C. S. Gregson will be at home 

 every Sunday until March next. Micro- 

 lepidopterists, coleopterists, and artists 

 should come early to secure good light ; 

 general naturalists any time from nine 

 a.m. to nine p.m. — Rose Bank, Fletcher 

 Grove Edge Lane, Liverpool. 



Huddersfield.— S. L. Mosley every Sat- 

 urday afternoon. 



EXCHANGE. 



Duplicates. — A goodly number of Exa- 

 Pate gelatella, both sexes, females carded. 

 Desiderata. — Lspidoptera and Coleoptera. 

 —John S. White, 15, Medlock Road, 

 Droylsden, near Manchester, 17th Decem- 

 ber, 1 88 1. 



NATURALIST. 91 



WINGLESS INSECTS— MITES. 



The mites, though not insects in the strict 

 sence of the term, because they possess 

 eight legs, are only the first step out of the 

 insect w^orld ; and these and others, such as 

 spiders, are so very little removed, that it is 

 perhaps best to treat of them all as insects 

 Indeed, so little removed are the mites from 

 the true insects that, although in the mature 

 state they have eight legs, in the younger 

 stages they have only six. They form the 

 transition group from the true insects to the 

 spiders. 



In Science these insects are called 

 AcARiNA, and are very varied in their habits, 

 which are fully described in a thick volume, 

 by the late Andrew Murrey, and published 

 by Chapman & Hall, at the moderate price 

 of three shillings. We refer to this subject 

 here because we wish to open out various 

 paths to the young beginner, as there are 

 already too uiany travelling the same road, 

 while many interesting sideways and bye- 

 paths are almost totally neglected. We 

 give the following general summary of this 

 order, gleaned from the above-mentioned 

 work ; — 



1. Trombidiin.e, containing the Tetrany- 

 chus, of which the "red spider" of gar- 

 dener's is an example, and the Trombidiiifcd, 

 which comprise the harvest mites, generally 

 red or brown, found under stones, &c. 



2. Bdellid.^, called snouted harvest 

 mites, generally brightly coloured, but hav- 

 ing their mouth protruded into a snout. 



3. Hydrachnid^, or water mites, dis- 

 tinguished by being aquatic in their habits. 

 Many of them are very brightly coloured. 



4. Gamasid^. Examples of this family 

 may be found under the body of almost any 

 " dor beetle " or humble bee. 



5. Ixodid/e, or ticks, may be known by 

 their leathery abdomen, and by having a sort 



