i2 S THE STUDY OF INSECTS 



The chigoe (chig'o) or jigger, Tiiiiga penetrans. - - This is a small flea 

 found in the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America, and in 

 tropical Africa. It lias been reported from Florida but it is not known 

 to be established in the United States. The males and the unimpreg- 

 nated females live in dry, sandy soil; they are only about one millimeter 

 in length, and behave in the ordinary manner of fleas, feeding on the 

 Mood of man and many other animals, domestic and wild, and even 

 birds. When impregnated, the female burrows into the skin of her host. 

 Soon after this the abdomen becomes distended with eggs and acquires 

 the size of a small pea. This species often causes serious injury to man 

 by burrowing beneath the skin of the foot, causing the formation of a 

 sore, which may become infected with bacteria, and cause the loss of a 

 toe or a leg. 



In the southern United States the names chigoe and jigger are im- 

 properly applied to the harvest-mites, which are the immature six-legged 

 forms of various mites that attach themselves like ticks to the skin and 

 become gorged with blood. 



