336 Ewing, English Sparrow and Bird Mites. LJuly 



me the probability of this species being the one found on poultry. 

 During the summer of 1909, while a graduate student in the 

 University of Illinois, I took up the study of these two species of 

 mites mentioned. Arrangements were made with a couple of 

 students to get me the sparrows, but they were unable to get many 

 individuals. However, the author continued to collect what data 

 there was to be obtained both at Urbana and Areola, 111. One 

 day, to my surprise, a sparrow was found that had fallen upon the 



Fig. 1. — Dermanyssus gallinw Redi, the common chicken mite of poultry- 

 houses. Dorsal view of female, much magnified. 



grass of the campus, and upon examination it was seen to possess 

 scores, if not hundreds, of Dcrmanyssi. The individual was weak, 

 sickly, and exhausted, and evidently would soon have died from the 

 effects of the attacks of these scores of mites. The bird was killed, 

 however, and the mites collected. Examinations of these speci- 

 mens later showed that they were no other than Dermanyssus 

 gallinoe Redi (Fig. 1), our common chicken mite. The work at 

 the University was not completed, because as yet I had failed to 

 get any accurate and reliable characters for the distinction of these 



