Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/142

116 which lives on plants. It is closely related to the true mites, the itch insect, the little red "spider" of hot-houses, and the well-known Leptus autumnalis, or "harvest-bug." The annoying pruritus about the legs produced by the latter at the end of the summer, after a walk in the fields, &c, is well known to every one; and Dr. Heiberg has lately recorded that the nuisance assumed an epidemic form in a village in Denmark. In the present case the pruritus was chiefly around the neck and shoulders, and several parasites were removed from the eyelids. The plants in the garden were not examined to see if plant-mites were very abundant there, as this exact source was not suspected at the time. There can be little doubt, I think, that the original source must have been certain plants in the garden; that the house pets, who were undoubtedly first affected, were agents in the conveyance of the main portion of the parasites to the human members of the family, but not exclusively, the probability being that many of the people, especially after the pet cats and dog were excluded from the house, managed to be infected directly from the original source."

"Notes on the African Saturnidæ in the Collection of the Royal Dublin Society." By W. F. Kirby.

"Descriptions of new Genera and Species of Phytophagous Beetles belonging to the Family Cryptocephalidæ, together with Diagnoses and Remarks on previously described Genera." By Joseph S. Baly, F.L.S.

"Descriptions of new Species of Phytophagous Beetles belonging to the Family Eumolpidæ, and a Monograph of the Genus Eumolpus." By Joseph S. Baly, F.L.S., &c.—F.G.

 

object of the mission of which these two handsome volumes detail the result was to settle the disputed boundaries on the