264 



BOAED OF AGEICULTUKE. 



densely covered with long, thick hairs, the body being naked 

 beneath. The larger specimen measured .12 inch in length. 

 The Apliis-eating Mite. — Quite an unsuspected enemy of 

 the aphis is a little garden-mite, which I found in July and 

 August last in considerable numbers in my garden, busily en- 

 gaged in devouring the plant-lice on the rose-bushes. 



We know but little of the numerous kinds of mites which 

 abound in this countrj^, and but few species are known to 

 prey on other insects. The present species is allied to the 

 red garden-mite (Tromhidium), which is often seen running 

 over flower-beds. It is the six-legged young of these mites 

 which, under the name of harvest-mites, are so irritating and 



annoying when they get upon our 

 bodies, as they work their way in 

 under the skin. Their natural 

 hosts are various insects, such as 

 grasshoppers, &c. , as we often per- 

 ceive them with their heads stuck 

 in between their joints. They are 

 all vermilion-red in color, and in 

 former times have been used as a 

 dye. 



Our species is apparently a Trom- 

 hidium, or closely allied genus, and 

 perhaps the specimen we figure 

 here is immature. It may be called 

 Trombidium? bulbipes, (fig. 18, 

 a leg, h palpus, side view,) in al- 

 lusion to the swollen, bulb-like 

 Fig. IS.— Aphis-eating Mite. terminal joiuts of thc Icgs. It is 

 scarlet red, regularly ovate in form, with a distinct, squarish 

 head separate from the bod}^ and two deep-red eye-spots 

 situated over the insertion of the second pair of legs. The 

 beak is long, slender, sharply conical, and reaches to near the 

 middle of the third joint of the palpi ; the latter four-jointed, 

 the second and third joiuts of nearly equal size, the fourth 

 very minute ; when extended the palpi reach nearly to the 

 end of the third joint of the first pair of legs. The fore-feet 

 are much larger, thicker, and rather longer than the fourth 

 pair, and inserted very near the head ; the terminal joint is 



