SOME ANNOYING PESTS OF MAN 323 



Those that manage to survive until spring deposit their 

 eggs, sometimes as many as 400, together in a bunch in or 

 upon the ground. The eggs are usually brownish in color, 

 very small, and spherical. By earlier workers they were 

 considered minute forms of plants known as fungi. In 

 time, the eggs hatch and the young larval mites are circular 

 or ovoid in outline, very small, and with three pairs of 

 legs, each ending in two or three prominent claws. The 

 mites crawl to the stems of grasses and weeds and eventu- 

 ally gain access, if possible, to an insect. After feeding on 

 the blood and juices of its host, the body of the mite 

 becomes elongated and swollen. When full fed it loosens 

 its hold and drops from its host to the ground, where it 

 seeks some kind of shelter and gradually changes in shape 

 but does not molt. "The new parts are formed under the 

 larval skin, which in a few weeks cracks and discloses the 

 adult Trombidium." As we have noted, the adults live 

 upon aphids and small caterpillars. There appears to 

 be but a single generation produced each year. 



Methods of avoiding redbugs and remedies for the 

 irritation. — One of the severest infestations the author 

 ever knew was contracted by a person with delicate skin, 

 subject to erysipelas, who sat down for a few minutes on 

 the ground on the links of a golf club. The links had 

 just been laid out in an old pasture which still contained 

 much long grass and a good many plants of the horse bean, 

 a legume quite common in Texas. The body of the indi- 

 vidual was completely covered with the large inflamed spots, 

 even to the neck, although none appeared on the face. 

 The torture was intense for a week and the infection per- 

 sisted for a much longer period. The thing that seemed 

 to give the most relief was hot baths. No person subject 



