SOME ANNOYING PESTS OF MAN 319 



The bodies of redbugs are always red in color, although 

 some are much darker than others. This color is not due 

 to any food that they may have taken, for example, blood, 

 as man}- suppose. Redbugs are very small, but still 

 visible to the unaided eye. Their bodies, when they 

 hatch from the eggs at least, are ovoid or nearly circular 

 and more or less clothed with bristles. The mouth parts 

 are formed for puncturing and sucking. Unlike their 

 parents they have only three pairs of legs. Redbugs are 

 parasitic, as a usual thing, upon insects. After the mite 

 becomes attached to its host, its body becomes engorged 

 and swollen with food. When full fed, the young mite 

 loosens its hold and drops to the ground, where it seeks 

 shelter in order to change to the next stage in its life his- 

 tory. When it finally becomes adult, it has four pairs of 

 legs and in this stage does not trouble man, nor is it 

 parasitic on any other animal. The adult harvest mite 

 wanders around and feeds upon small insects, especially 

 plant lice and caterpillars. One species has been found to 

 destroy the eggs of grasshoppers, and another species in 

 France has been found destroying the Phylloxera on the 

 roots of grapevines. 



The hosts of redbugs. — These small mites are called 

 harvest mites because they are found in such great abun- 

 dance toward the end of summer in fields of grass or grain, 

 where they often attack the workers in the fields and cause 

 much annoyance, even, in some instances, a cessation of 

 work. In our own country they are found on grass and 

 weeds in pastures and neglected places, on bushes, espe- 

 cially raspberry and blackberry bushes, on trees in hedge- 

 rows, and in damp locations along the banks of streams, 

 edges of woodlands, and in other shaded situations. They 



