304 
Transactions of the Society. 
Uropoda obscura Canestrini, ‘ Prospetto dell’ Acarofauna Ital.,’ vol. i. 
1885, p. 103. 
„ „ Berlese, £ Acari &c. Ital.,’ fasc. xi. No. 8. 
This species is not the Uropoda ovalis of Kramer, Canestrini, or 
Berlese. It is not the Notaspis obscurus of Koch with which 
Canestrini and Berlese identify it, neither is it the Notaspis margina- 
tus of Koch nor the Notaspis immarginatus of the same author, with 
both of which Canestrini and Berlese identify it, nor is it the 
Trachynotus elongatus of Kramer with which Canestrini is inclined 
to identify it. Haller says that it is the Uropoda vegetans of Megnin, 
hut this does not appear to be so. 
It will be seen above that great confusion has arisen in the 
synonymy of this species. Koch’s Notaspis ovalis is a large species, 
pointed posteriorly similar to Berlese’s excellent figure which is called 
Uropoda obscura. The Uropoda ovalis of Kramer, Canestrini, and 
Berlese is a smallish species quite rounded at the posterior end and 
not resembling Koch’s species ; it is probably the Uropoda vegetans 
of de Geer. 
Megnin’s Uropoda scutulata is inserted here as a synonym with a 
? in order to draw attention to it, and because Haller drew and 
described a creature as Megnin’s U. scutulata which Berlese and 
Canestrini identify with their U. obscura (the present species) ; but 
Kramer has already pointed out that it would be quite impossible to 
identify it from Megnin’s description ; and that, as far as it goes, it is 
extremely doubtful (to say the least of it) whether it is the same 
creature as Haller describes. I thought at one time that Haller’s 
U. scutulata was certainly identical with this species ; Canestrini 
and Berlese treat it as being so, but I have since observed that 
Haller states that in his species the first leg is terminated by a 
tactile hair only without claw or caruncle ; the present species has 
both on the first leg ; if Haller be correct in his statement then his 
creature would belong not only to a different species but also, accord- 
ing to Canestrini and Berlese, to a different genus Cilliba ( Disco - 
poma ). 
Notaspis obscura Koch is a species with a broadly truncated pos- 
terior end very different from Berlese’s drawing. 
I have found this species in great abundance in newly mown 
grass thrown on top of a hot-bed (cucumber-bed) at Kensworth, 
Hertfordshire ; I have also found it not uncommon in hot-beds and 
moss generally over England. 
Uropoda vegetans de Geer. 
Acarus vegetans De Geer, ‘ Memoires pour servir a l’histoire des 
Insectes,’ Stockholm, 1778, t. vii. p. 123, pi. vii. 
figs. 15-19. 
„ „ Linnaeus, Syst. nat., t. i. p. v. p. 2933, No. 78. 
„ „ Sclirank, Ins. Aust., 1781, p. 521, No. 1084. 
