HARVEST-BUGS. 81 



plate VII, a fly upon which nmc: larvse^ oi TrorrJjidtum mirs- 

 carum have fastened themselves; and in fig. 47 we have an 

 enlarged illustration of one of them. 



About the very worst pests of man and domesticated ani- 

 mals ate the harvest-bugs, red-bugs or jiggers, which are 

 illustrated in fig. 48. They are barely visible mites, the 



Fig. 48. — Red-bugs. The American harvest-tnite at the left, the irritating 

 harvest-mite at the right. Greatly enlarged. After Riley. 



young stage of a Tromhidiurn not yet ascertained, of a brick- 

 red color and are found in large numbers among low grow- 

 ing plants. They are not common in Minnesota, and it is 

 to be fervently hoped will remain so forever. Men and ani- 

 mals, passing through low herbage that harbors them are 

 attacked by these pests, which, whenever they succeed in 

 finding a host, burrow in and under the skin, causing intol- 

 erable itching and sores, the latter caused by the feverish ac- 

 tivity of the finger-nails of the host, if that should be a man, 

 w^hose energy in scratching, apparently, can not be con- 

 trolled and who is bound forcibly to remove the intruders. 

 The w^riter has been there! Those who have ever passed 

 through meadows infested with red-bugs will remember the 

 occasion. 



Horses and other animals in pastures suffer mainly on 

 the lower part of the face; if kept in their stables the inflam- 

 mation caused by the mites will soon disappear with the 

 mites themselves. Dogs and cats suffer greatly in regions 

 where such mites abound, and look as scabby and mangy as 

 if infested by some itch-mite. Other animals do not escape, 

 and the parasite has even been found upon the mole, field- 



