316 Transactions of the Boyal Microscojoical Society. 
my observations on the present species lead me to tlie conclusion 
that it is a striking instance of this, indeed it would be more correct 
to say that they have hardly acquired the office of legs ; they do 
not seem to bear any of the weight, but when the creature is 
moving, they are held slightly elevated, nearly horizontal, are con- 
stantly trembling, and seem to touch the ground very lightly at 
every step, and when the mite is about to ascend any obstacle, they 
are always put out, evidently to feel, first, but it does not climb by 
them. 
I brought one living specimen from the country on the 5th of 
January, 1878 (the other two or three which I had caught having 
been mounted), by confining it in the manner before named, with 
a little dust from the fodder; I kept it alive for nearly three 
months, it became quite accustomed to its cage, and seemed, up to 
the time of its death, on 29th ot March, which was after it had de- 
posited its eggs, and some of the young had emerged, strong and 
well. Its habits seemed different from those of the last species ; it 
used to lie in wait with the front legs, and the palpi widely ex- 
tended, and generally hanging from the under surface of some- 
thing ; whenever I have put a cheese mite near it, or whenever I 
have seen one go there, it has retreated without attacking them, but 
those I put in one day were almost always dead and sucked dry by 
the next day. On one occasion only I saw it seize its prey : then the 
cheese mite came well between its palj^i, and with one vigorous 
stroke it drove the great falces at the end of the second joint 
right into the body of the mite, and then plunged its rostrum in, 
and the mite was dead directly. 
I brought the creature from the country, as before stated, on 
the 5th of January, and put it alone in the cell, inspecting it very 
frequently, hoping to breed from it, but for a long time I was 
unsuccessful, and began to fear it was either a male or unim- 
pregnated female; on the 19th of March, however, I saw a nymph 
emerge from under the dust. I examined, and found some eggs, 
which could not have been there long. The next day a larva 
appeared, and I have subsequently bred others. I cannot ascertain 
that anyone has before discovered any of the earlier stages of this 
species. Koch does not mention them. 
The eggs are short ellipses with blunted ends, very polished, 
and of a pearly white ; they are laid singly, i. e. apart from each 
other, and each egg is attached to the substance it is laid on by a 
few very fine threads. 
The larva is hexapod ; much smaller and shorter than the 
perfect creature, but otherwise similar in form ; the colour, 
however, is clear yellowish white or light yellow, like the legs of 
the adult ; the front legs are similar, but the tarsus is terminated by 
a single long bristle instead of two, and this one, although springing 
