84 GAMASIDS. 



merous that crops of currants and other berries have been 

 abandoned. These mites seem to be able to penetrate stockings 

 and drawers, and other thin clothing, for though generally- 

 most numerous and annoying about the legs, they are found all 

 over the body. Cats and dogs, from their prowling habits 

 in field and garden, suffer greatly. They scratch and nip 

 their skin with their teeth, so much so that they are some- 

 times supposed to be suffering from the itch, when it is only 

 from a daily reinforcement of these mites. Fig. 49 shows a 

 skin infested with these mites, and the imbedded heads after 

 the removal of the parasites. 



"Kirby and Spence mention a similar insect which occurs 

 in Brazil, abounding in the rainy season, particularly during 

 the gleams of sunshine on fine da^'s that 

 intervene, and which resembles a small 

 point moving very fast. These animals 

 they say, get upon the linen and cover 

 it in a moment; afterward they insinuate 

 themselves into the skin, and occasion 

 vest^i!^.'~lk[n''of°man & most intolerable itching. Thev are 

 E'L°iriS"'Sr'He']ffn '• with difficulty extracted,and leave behind 

 them large livid tumors, \vhich subside 

 in a day or two. An insect very tormentmg to the wood- 

 cutters and settlers on the Mosquito Shore and Bay of Hon- 

 duras, and called by them the "doctor," is thought to be 

 identical with this. It is also stated on good authority that 

 still more serious consequences have been known to follow 

 the bite of a mite, related to the above if not the same spe- 

 cies, common in Martinique, and called there the hete rouge. 

 When the English soldiers in camp v^xre attacked by these 

 creatures, dangerous ulcers succeeded the symptoms just 

 mentioned, which in several instances became so bad that 

 the limb affected had to be amputated." 



D. GAMASIDS. 



( Garnai<id(e.) 

 The species of mites belonging here are either found in 

 damp places on the ground, or are parasitic on some animal. 

 Thev possess filiform or thread-like feelers, mandibles with 



