NO. 1382. 



THE A CARINA OR MITES— BANKS. 



95 



Little is known reg-ardino- their life lii.stoiy. In LiO>'id(>nirj><(>< the 

 male mates with a nymphal female (as in the Analgesidte), whicli 

 moults, and the true female issues only to deposit eggs. Some spe- 

 cies of Listrophorns are preyed upon by a species of Chei/Jetufi that 

 uses the rabbit's fur as a hunting forest. 



This family is based on the pilicolus habit and the possession of 

 some apparatus to cling to the hair. Since this apparatus is ver\' dif- 

 ferent in the various genera it has been surmised that the famils' is 

 not a natural one, but includes forms really belonging to the Anal- 

 gesidt^, Tj^rogh'phidfe, and Sarcoptidt\?. 



The American forms, with the exception of Schizocarpus mingandl 

 on the beaver, have not been investigated. That species is, however, 

 very peculiar in many Ava3^s. The male has the third pair of legs 

 large, the fourth very small, and mates with a nymphal female, 

 which possesses but one pair of legs. The adult female is of normal 

 appearance. It has been taken in Texas, California, and Washington, 

 and also occurs in Europe. 



Lahidocarpiii^ has an elongate, tapering body, annulate with many 

 narrow ridges, and at once reminding one of the Eriophyidtv, to which 

 there is, doubtless, some affinit}^ 



Family SARCOPTID^E. 



The itch mites {Sarcojytides p.sorhpies of Megnin) have long been 

 familiar through their disgusting parasitism of the human subject. 

 The}" often burrow within the skin of 

 man and other mammals, and thereby 

 produce intense itching, and a diseased 

 condition known as scabies, mange, or 

 more properly acariasis. The mites are 

 very small, white, and semiglobular in 

 shape. The body is entire, and the sur- 

 face transversely striated and provided 

 with a few bristles, often short, stout, 

 and sharp pointed. The legs are short 

 and stout, arranged in two groups. The 

 anterior legs are usually larger than the 

 others. The tarsi commonly terminate 

 in a stout claw. There is generally a long 

 pedicellate sucker, sometimes with a joint- 

 ed pedicel. The claw^ or sucker may be 

 absent and in its place a long ])ristle. The 

 legs often show a chitinous framework of rings, both transverse and 

 oblique. On the front of the body is a prominent beak. The palpi 

 are small, three-jointed, and appressed to the sides of the beak beneath. 



SAKt'OFTES HOMINIS, MALE. 



