214 IRambles witb mature Students 



There is a special mite which eats dried figs ; 

 another species prefers dried plums. 



The feathers of the ostrich are infested by a 

 minute creature of this kind, and it is also found 

 in owls' plumage. 



In the cavities of the bones of skeletons mites 

 exist, and old honeycomb is quickly taken in hand 

 by them and destroyed. A specimen of the sacred 

 beetle of Egypt was sent to me alive some years 

 ago. I kept it in health for about sixteen months, 

 but so rapidly did mites breed upon its living body 

 that every few weeks I had to place it in warm 

 water, and with a camel's hair pencil brush away 

 dozens of minute specks which I could only just 

 discern running over its body. 



Sometimes humble bees are infested in this way, 

 and I pick them up in a dying state, apparently 

 unable to rid themselves of their tormentors. 



The excessive irritation many persons experience 

 after walking in cornfields is due to the harvest- 

 mite, which buries itself in the skin and there 

 creates acute imflammation and much consequent 

 distress. 



Some years ago I met with another branch of 

 the family, and could but marvel at its extraordinary 

 labours. A furze bush was apparently wreathed 

 in fine white muslin in layers between the branches, 

 fold after fold, and upon this gauzy material were 

 multitudes of bright red specks careering about. 

 Of course I took some specimens home, and I soon 

 discovered they were spinning mites (Tetranychus 

 lintearius). 



There are many species, and it is one of these, 

 the so-called 'red-spider/ which does so much 



