MICROSCOPIC LIFE OF THE "LEAF-CARPET." 243
ENTOMOSTRACA.
The examples of this group of little Crustaceans found in the
leaf-carpet were all Copepods of the family Harpacticidae. It
cannot be said that they were in any case abundant nor were
they present in more than a small proportion of the samples.
But a considerable variety of forms was seen altogether, as will
appear from the following list:—Phyllognathopus viguieri,
Canthocamptus pygmaeus, C. weberi, Moraria varica, M. arbori-
cola, Maraenobiotus vejdovskyi, vars. anglicus and truncatus,
Epactophanes richardi and E. muscicolus.
Of the foregoing, Canthocamptus, pygmaeus and Moraria varica
were seen the greatest number of times (five each), the others
only once or twice. In a few cases nauplii only were seen, which
could not be specifically identified. In passing it may be
mentioned that Canthocamptus weberi is a new record for Epping
Forest and for Essex.
The variety truncatus of Maraenobiotus vejdovskyi is peculiar
in that the usual long setae on each of the furcal rami are replaced
by a pair of small knobs. It is very tempting to regard this as
an adaptation to the peculiar conditions of the leaf-carpet
environment, but as this variety has also been found in mosses,
it is not possible to be sure that there is such a correlation.
TARDIGRADA.
The occurrence of "Water-bears" was pretty frequent, notes
having been made of their presence eleven times. In nearly all
cases the specimens appeared to be the common Macrobiotus
hufelandi, but on the strength of the evidence of a resting-egg,
M. echinogenitus was also present in one sample and yet another
but undetermined species of the same genus was also seen once.
ACARINA.
Mites were seen in every sample, but were not identified except
a small selection sent to my friend Mr. C. D. Soar, who
furnished me with the following list:—Hoplophora dasypus,
Oribata mollicamus, Notaspis sp., Cilliba cassidea, Macrocheles
remaralis, Gamasus coleopterans and Hypoaspis sp.
COLLEMBOLA.
There were scarcely any samples of leaf-carpet which did not
yield some specimens of this primitive group of insects. Unfortu-