AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 373 
Mitchella—continued. 
to six-toothed, persistent; corolla funnel-shaped; throat 
bearded; limb three to six-lobed, bearded within, re- 
curved, valvate. Fruit scarlet. Leaves opposite, shortly 
petiolate, ovate-rotundate ; stipules intrapetiolar, minute. 
M. repens, the species introduced to cultivation, is a 
pretty little plant for rockeries, hardy ferneries, and such 
like places. Propagated by division of the roots. 
M. repens (creeping).* fl. white, tinged with purple, usually two 
together on the top of each peduncle, fragrant. Summer. 
J. small, opposite, roundish-ovate, smooth, shining, often varie- 
gated with whitish lines. North America, 1761, (L. B. C. 979.) 
MITELLA (a diminutive from mitra, a mitre or cap; 
alluding to the form of the young pod). Including Drum- 
mondia. ORD. Saxifragee. A genus consisting of five 
species of hardy perennial herbs, natives of North America 
and North-eastern Asia, only two of which have been 
introduced. Flowers greenish, small, distant, often secund 
or nodding, in slender many-flowered racemes; scape 
slender, erect, naked, or one or two-leaved. Leaves 
long-stalked, cordate, lobed or crenated. The species 
thrive in any light soil, but do best if grown in peat. 
Propagated by divisions. M. diphylla is a pretty plant 
for the rockery. Both the species here described are 
from North America. 
M. Wo- . ji. white, with pinnatifidly fringed 
petals apr t. wid Ean contin, N toe to five- 
obed, dentately serrated, on long petioles; cauline ones two, 
opposite, smaller, and nearly sessile. h. in. to din. 1751. 
(B. R. 166.) 
M. pentandra (five-anthered).* fi. yellowish ; petals five, pecti- 
nately pinnatifid, alternating with the sepals; scape leafless. 
May. J., radical ones on long petioles, cordate, oe lobed. 
h. Gin. 1827. SYN. Drummondia mitelloides. (B. M. 32 
MITES. These form a group of animals related to 
the true Spiders, but differing from them in their very 
small size, and in having the abdomen closely united 
with the front part of the body, instead of being joined 
to it by a narrow stalk. Most Mites have six jointed 
legs when young, and eight when full-grown; though in 
a good many the posterior pairs are very small and 
useless, or may not be present. One group, the Phytopti, 
or Gall Mites, so far as known, have never more than 
two pairs of very short legs, on the lower surface of 
the body, in front. All the true Mites are so small as 
to render the microscope indispensable in examining 
them; but, despite their small size, they form an im- 
portant order of animals, because of their abundance 
and habits. Many species live on dead or decaying 
organic matter; others exist as parasites on living 
animals, especially on insects; and those belonging to 
Tetranychide and Phytoptide are parasites on living 
plants, and therefore deserve somewhat fuller mention 
here. The species parasitic on animals may be regarded 
as mostly useful, since they feed largely on insects; 
but among them are one or two that are, at certain 
Seasons, very troublesome to gardeners, fruit-pickers, 
and others. The best known of these is the Harvest 
Bug (Tetranychus, or Leptus autumnalis), which is of a 
brick-red colour, and so minute as to be invisible to the 
naked eye, and which swarms upon bushes and vegetables 
in the garden, as well as in hay and stubble fields. 
They feed ordinarily on plant juices, but very readily 
attack the human skin, especially the skin of women and 
children ; and they are also very troublesome to domestic 
animals, Wherever a Mite has fixed on the skin, it 
causes a hard swelling of a red colour, and the place 
bitten continues to itch greatly for some time. Mites 
are more abundant during late summer and autumn. 
They attack some people very severely, others hardly 
at all. Remedies are as follows: Washing the parts 
bitten with weak spirits will often prove serviceable in 
reducing the itching. Sulphur ointment, solution of 
varbolic acid, and benzine, have also been used, and have 
been found to give relief, The true Itch Mite (Sar- 
Mites—continued. * 
coptes scabiei) is sometimes very annoying, as it causes 
intense itching at the wrists and knuckles, where it 
burrows under the skin. The disease is propagated by 
contact of healthy with diseased hands, directly, or by 
handling the same things. It is easily got rid of by 
personal cleanliness and the use of sulphur ointment. 
The Plant Mites belong to the two families Tetrany- 
chide and Phytoptide. The former group ineludes 
eight-legged Mites, which live on leaves and twigs, suck 
the juices, and often greatly injure the plants thereby, 
They are usually minute, semi-transparent, and some 
shade of white, yellow, or pale brick-red. They spin 
a web on the backs of the leaves. The latter become 
discoloured, and turn yellowish or grey above, shining 
dirty-white below. Garden and greenhouse plants often 
suffer much from their attacks. They are best com- 
bated by applications of soft soap and sulphur. Quassia 
solutions may also be used, See also Red Spider. 
The Phytoptide, or Gall Mites, have long, slender, 
nearly colourless bodies, and are easily known by their 
form, their having two pairs of very short legs near the 
head, and their habit of forming galls on plants. The 
Mites are very numerous, but are too small and too 
similar to be easily distinguished; hence, the galls must 
be employed to recognise the kind of Mites that 
made them. Cultivated trees and herbs seldom suffer 
much from the galls on them, so that it is needless here 
to mention more than the chief forms. These are: 1. The 
Erineum galls, in the form of patches of velvety hairs 
on the lower (rarely upper) surface of the leaves; these 
patches pass from white into rusty-brown. They were 
at one time described as fungi. Examples occur on 
Apple, Maple, Birch, Beech, Ko. 2. Inrolled leaf- 
margins, with thickened and discoloured tissues, such 
as may often be seen on leaves of Hawthorn. 3. Blistered 
spots in the leaves; these spots become brown or black, 
and are then very conspicuous. Pear leaves are, at 
times, very much injured in this way; and Elm leaves 
are yet more frequently infested, though the injury done 
to them is less. On a careful examination, there is found 
to be a small hole on the lower surface, about the middle 
of each discoloured spot, giving passage to the Mites 
to and from the interior of the leaf. 4. Wart, or Nail 
Galls, consist of outgrowths from the upper surface of 
leaves, like warts, about the size of pin-heads, or like 
small nails, reaching jin. long, and are abundant on Lime, 
Maple, Willow, and many other trees and shrubs; but, 
beyond their unsightliness, they usually do little harm 
to the plants. 5. Bud Galls are buds caused to swell 
greatly, but to remain unopened, or to form only sickly 
branches; or, if this continues for some years, it may 
give rise to knots of diseased branches. The Mites live 
between the scales of the buds. Much harm is done in 
this way to Black Currant bushes in some places, and 
also to Hazel and to Birch. 6. The flower- buds are 
injured, and become green, and the parts of the flowers 
are often replaced by green structures, as in reversions 
to the leaf-type. Campanulas, and a few other cul- 
tivated subjects, are liable to this change ; but it is more 
frequent in some wild plants; e.g., in the genus Galium, 
or the Bedstraws. Yet other forms of Mite Galls might 
be noted, but they are of no practical moment to gar- 
re reach the Mite tected as th 
is i ible to e Mites, protec as they 
— Abs vole, the species that gall tho 
leaves do little practical mischief; but those that gall 
the buds so spoil the appearance of some plants as to 
render their destruction desirable. The only certain 
method is to collect the plants that bear the young 
galls, and destroy them before the exit of the Mites. 
Plants (e.g, Currants) badly affected. with Bud Galls 
should be uprooted and burned, and the ground allowed to 
remain clear of the same plants for a year or two at least. 
