October, '09] JOURNAL of economic entomology 341 



face. The object-lesson method is the favorite one among entomolo- 

 gists in the class-room. Why not in the field application of our work? 



This demonstration work is not experimental work. We use only 

 the methods that are well established and proven beyond controversj- ; 

 it involves nothing new, doubtful or investigational. We studiously 

 avoid, for the sake of simplicity, the finer points of detail of which 

 even entomologists are yet uncertain. Nor is it the same as the prac- 

 tical field test, since in field test work there is no invitation to the 

 public to attend, watch and c[uestion. 



No doubt there are states where such work as this would appeal to 

 a smaller class than it does here. But we doubt whether there is a 

 single state in which the majority of the orchards which are set for 

 market purposes are sprayed systematically. We grant that the 

 majority of the commercial growers may spray, because they have 

 learned how, but there are hundreds who set out market orchards and 

 whose orchards fail and remain utterly neglected because the benefits 

 of spraying are never brought home to them in sufficiently forcible 

 manner to be convincing. 



NOTES ON MITES AFFECTING CHICKENS 



By Glenx W. Herkick 



The young chickens in the poultry yards at Agricultural College, 

 Mississippi, have been curiously affected for the past two summers 

 with a species of mite, or what is known in common parlance as "red- 

 bugs." 



On May 28, 1908, we examined two young chickens that were evi- 

 dently diseased and found the sides of the body, beneath the wings 

 where the feathers were scarce, bearing, here and there, rather large 

 red nodules or tubercles, usually capped around the edges of the top 

 at least with a hard scab or crust. In the center of the crust of each 

 tubercle we found the red distended abdomens of numerous' mites, 

 with their heads buried in the tissues. When the scab was removed the 

 mites came with it and left a comparatively large cavity in the cen- 

 ter of the tubercle. 



The mites were evidently gregarious and their presence in such 

 numbers had stimulated the tissues until the nodule had been formed. 

 Within the nodules were masses of whitish, fat-like tissue, composed 

 of long, tapering cells. The mites were almost buried in these masses. 

 Occasionally we found one isolated mite, especially between the sec- 

 ondary quill feathers of the wings. In each case its head was buried 

 in the flesh like a tick. 



