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Show 1876.] ARACHNIDA FROM KERGUELEN'S LAND. 261 Abdomen dark yellow-brown, and (as well as the cephalothorax) thinly clothed with short pale hairs ; the hinder part of the abdomen is of a pale dull yellowish hue, and its margin is indented with four small elongate notches. On each side of the underpart, just behind the basal joints of the 4th pair of legs, is a roundish patch, whose surface appears to be covered with minute points, which may possibly be the plates of spiracular organs. The legs are moderately long and tolerably strong, 7-jointed, the last or tarsal joint being very small; they are of a pale yellowish colour, marked underneath with patches of a bright shining orange red, and furnished with a few short hairs ; each tarsus terminates with two curved diaphanous claws springing from a small claw-joirtt; and beneath them is an oval sucker like pad. The palpi are five-jointed (including the basal joints or maxillae) ; these latter are of a reddish colour and soldered to the labium ; the colour of the palpi is similar to that of the legs; the terminal (or digital) joint is short and small; the next to it (or radial) is large and tumid, the other two joints short. The length of the palpi slightly exceeds that of the falces. The falces are porrected in the form of a beak, and are armed beneath with numerous sharp hooks or teeth directed backwards. Several examples of this Acarid were found by the Rev. A. E. Eaton on a Penguin (Pggosceles taniatus) in Kerguelen's Land. Ordo nov. ? P-ECILOPHYSIDEA. External Characters of the Order i-Cephalothorax and abdomen covered with a continuous epidermis of a rather slight texture, un-segmented, and united to each other throughout their whole breadth, the point of junction being clearly indicated by a transverse line or suture. Palpi filiform, and terminating with a single minute claw. Leys eight in number, their basal joints closely grouped together on the sternal surface of the cephalothorax, the tarsi terminate with two claws, between which is a slender pectinated style. Falces didactylous. Maxillce coalescing at their base. Labium (properly so called) wanting. Eyes two. Fam. PffiCILOPHYSIDES. In its general appearance this curious little Arachnid seems to be a compound of the Spiders, Solpugids, Chelifers, and Acari. On its upperside it reminds one strongly of the Solpugidea, both in the massive falces, and its two eyes on a small tubercle at the fore extremity of the caput; its underside bears a strong resemblance in the maxillae and palpi to the Araneidea ; its profile resembles that of the pseudo- Scorpiones, while in its small size, continuous, delicate epidermis, and closely approximated thorax and abdomen it shows a strong likeness to the Acaridea. Gen. nov. PCECILOPHYSIS. Eyes two, closely grouped on a small tubercle at the fore extremity of the caput, just between and above the base of the falces. |