49 Farmers’ Bulletin 1260. 
MITES.* 
Mites are pale-colored, soft-bodied creatures provided with nu- 
merous long hairs, as illustrated in figure 62. They are microscopic 
in size. Asa low estimate the number of mites that may be found on 
one square inch has been placed at 100,000. They are often found in 
stored grain and occasionally increase with such rapidity that the 
grain seems to be fairly alive with them. During heavy in- 
festations thei cast skins and dead bodies accumulate in fluffy 
light brown masses beneath the sacks of grain. If these accumula- 
tions are on a warehouse floor they roll up into piles which are 
blown about with each gust of wind. No other group of pests in 
lic. 59.—The black fungus beetle: a, Larva; b, pupa; c, adult; @d, caudal segment of 
Jarva (Schiddte) ; e, lateral plate of pupa (Schiddte). 
grain will produce these masses. .When present in large numbers 
they promote “sweating,” impart a disagreeable odor to the grain, 
and may cause damage by their feeding. Fortunately the mites that 
attack grain are themselves preyed upon by predacious mites which 
usually become abundant enough to kill the grain mites in a com- 
paratively short time. If they do not, the screening and fanning of 
grain will usually reduce mite infestations to a point where no injury 
takes place. 
PARASITES OF GRAIN PESTS. 
Grain in bulk is often seen swarming with small black wasplike 
insects of a size and appearance shown in figure 63. These do 
4 Tyroglyphus spp. 
