20 



Arachnida mid Myriopoda 



This complaint is called " Grocers' Itch" by Murray in his text- 

 book on Economic Entomology. Mr. C. E. Sage, consulting 

 chemist, assures me that he has examined and mounted as 

 microscopical preparations specimens of Tyroglyphid mites found 

 causing skin-trouble in persons handling raw sugar in London. 

 This complaint seems to have disappeared now that only refined 

 sugar is dealt with by grocers. Copra Itch is the name given by 

 Castellani to a very similar complaint which he discovered amongst 

 workers in copra mills in Ceylon, and it has been subsequently 



Fig. 8. 



Tyroglyphus longior var. castellanii Hirst. 6, dorsal and ventral aspects ; 

 the Acarus causing " Copra Itch," much enlarged. 



met with in London. A minute mite {Tyroglyphus longior, var. 

 castellanii, Hirst) is very abundant in copra dust, and it has been 

 proved by experiment that it originates this itch. 



Galli-Valerio has found mites of the genus Glycyphagus in hay 

 and straw from Aigle, Switzerland, causing itch in soldiers who 

 came in contact with it. Cases of this kind of itch have also been 

 observed by this author amongst alpine climbers who slept on 

 hay infested with Glycyphagus. 



A species of Tyroglyphus has been observed by Lefebvre to cause 

 suppurative dermatitis in lepers at Manila, in the Pbilippines. He 



