102 STORED GRAIN AND FLOUR. 
of a quarter to half an inch of them, and they have an appearance of 
brown washed fine sand as seen on a road after a heavy shower, and 
which first arrested my attention. 
‘‘ They are under two stacks of Oats grown in two different fields, 
but they are the same kind of Oats—known here by the name of 
‘Garton Abundance.’ We have a third stack of Oats of a different 
kind of seed, and grown in another field, but there are no insects 
under it. 
‘Since beginning to write this letter, I find from the foreman that 
four waggon-loads of Oats from the field out of which No. 1 stack was 
built were used in topping up No. 2 stack. Now No. 1 stack has the 
most Mites under it, but still there are more of them under No. 2 stack 
than can be proportionally accounted for by the four loads. I am 
curious as to whether the kind of Oat has anything to do with it. 
‘‘ All the three fields in which the Oats have been grown followed 
Turnips; but the one where no Mites appear is sown with Clover 
seed, and the other two are not.’’—(H. P.) 
These Mites, of which plentiful specimens were sent me, belong to 
the order Acarina, and are hatched from eggs; in their early condition 
they have three pairs of legs, when mature four pairs. When seen 
without magnifying powers they are quite indistinguishable from the 
common Cheese Mite; but when moderately magnified may be distin- 
guished in a general way by being somewhat larger, also by their 
longer shape, longer hairs, and their greater activity in movement. 
So far as appears from observations up to date, these Mites are 
mostly found (that is, noticed to an observable and inconvenient 
amount) in connection with hay which has not been heated, and also 
made up from what are variously called—according to local custom— 
cocks, tramps, or tramp ricks, &c¢., in which, for reasons of weather or 
otherwise, the hay has been gathered in the fields and left standing 
for some weeks, or at least for a considerable time, before being 
stacked. 
The following notes illustrate this point. One sent me in 1891 by 
Mr. Thos. Fraser, from the Isle of Jura, N.B., was as follows :— 
‘Tt is the general practice in haymaking in the West of Scotland 
(West Highlands), as soon as possible after cutting or mowing (which 
ranges from the end of June to the end of August), to have the hay 
collected in large tramps or cocks on the field, where it is allowed to 
remain some time. ‘The first appearance of the Mites (to an ordinary 
observer) is when removing the said cocks or tramps from the field. 
While forking the hay from the bottom or lower part of the cock on to 
the cart, at a much higher elevation, it is necessary to raise the hay 
overhead, and in minute particles, like dust, the Mites fall, and, from 
the backward position of the worker's head at the time, they stick or 
