a pale gray color, with darker spots; but after feeding it usually be- 

 comes more or less reddish, according to the amount of blood it has 

 sucked from its host. It has eight rather slender, tapering legs, a 

 pair of shorter feelers or jDalpi in front, and between the latter is a 

 pair of needle-like mandibles with which it secures its food. 



The adult mother mite lays her tiny eggs in cracks and crevices of 

 the wood, usually where there is some manure or other filth. The 

 mites when born are whitish in color, oval in shape, and have but six 

 legs. They feed largely, if not wholly, upon filth, but when older 

 attack the chickens. If a partlj' hatched egg is broken in the nest 

 the mites swarm and feed upon it. After the young mites have fed 

 for a few days they molt, or shed their skin, and appear with eight 

 legs, looking more like their parents. Other molts occur before the 



Fig. 1.— The rhickon mite {Dcrmaiu/ssiis (/allinu'): a, Adult; b, tarsus: c, mouth parts; d and e, young. 

 All much enlarged (from Osborn). 



adult condition is reached, the mites becoming mature in about ten 

 days from birth. 



Darkness and dampness are favorable to the increase of the pests, 

 and plenty of sunlight and good ventilation will do much to hinder 

 them. The mites do not remain on the poultry all the time, but 

 usually onl}^ long enough to feed; they then either wander about in 

 search of another host or retire into crevices. They are most active 

 at night, but Avhep A'ery numerous many can be found craAvling about 

 by day. By some means, possibly by the sense of smell, they are 

 able to realize that a hen is near by, and within a few minutes after 

 a hen has settled upon her nest the mites will be found upon her. 



The chicken mite will attack other kinds of fowls, horses, and even 

 man. The mite found upon pigeons, however, is now considiered to 



[Cir. 92] 



