334 



Gcjror : So/fw BritisJi EariJniufcs. 



a list of forty-seven works on Natural History in which it is 

 mentioned. Though the largest of our British species, there 

 exist several foreign ones much larger, which may be considered 

 to be the giants of the family. I have not yet had the pleasure 

 of seeing one of these alive, but I possess a mounted specimen ; 

 I do not know its specific name, or native place ; it must be 

 very handsome when alive. A glance at Mr. Soar's charac- 

 teristic drawing will shew that the mite may be divided into 

 two portions, an anterior one carrying the proboscis, palpi, 

 eyes, and two front pairs of legs ; and a posterior one, carrying 

 the two pairs of hind legs, and the genital and anal apertures. 



Larval Trombidiam. 



In the centre of the front portion of the mite, the mandibles are 

 seen to project slightly. These organs are paired, and are 

 most important, because by their anatomy they differentiate 

 the Trombidiidse from the Rhyncholophidse. Fig. i represents 

 one of these organs highly magnified ; it consists first of a claw- 

 like portion ' the blade,' and second, the handle or maunbrium, 

 and is described as sickle-formed. On each side of the pro- 

 boscis are the palpi, one of which is figured at b, and is seen to 

 consist of five joints. The first, which attaches it to the body, 

 is the smallest ; the second, much the largest, is somewhat 

 quadrangular ; the third, a truncated cone ; the fourth ends 

 in a strong claw ; the fifth springs from the base of the fourth. 



Naturalist. 



