ACAKUS SCABIEI. 21 



non atomis constare, sed ipsurn esse una ex Epicirfi atomis 

 videatur. Ita sub cute habitat, ut actis cuniculis urat. Ex- 

 tractus acu, super ungue positus, ita demurn sese movet, si solis 

 calore adjuvetur. Altero ungue pressus baud sine sono crepat, 

 aqueumque virus reddit." Joubert, who probably only re- 

 produces Scaliger, in 1580 refers to the itch-mite as a small 

 species of louse (Syro), which, like the mole under the earth, 

 produces passages under the skin, and thus causes a troublesome 

 itching. Aldrovandi (lib. v, ' De Insectis/ cap. iv, p. 215, article 

 Genus differentia) in 1623, also gives a sort of paraphrase of 

 Scaliger; he thinks the mites are destitute of feet (which, ac- 

 cording to him, had been incorrectly said by Mercurialis of the 

 crab-louse, but which might have been said with greater justice 

 of the itch-mite), describes them as concealed beneath the skin, 

 and explains the popular name Pellicelli, " quod inter pelliculam 

 et cutem serpant " (as he afterwards adds, "clam erodendo, et 

 molestissimum excitando pruritum), sinuantes sibi velut cunicu- 

 los, seu vesiculas non suppurantes, quas si quis perforet, exeunt albi, 

 adeotamenparvi utvix deprehendi oculispossint; non tamen fugiunt 

 acriorem visum in loco maxime lucido." He also states that the 

 extracted animals, when crushed between the nails, burst with a 

 noise. He then continues : " Minimi, quos Cyrones et Pedicellos 

 nominari diximus, manuum ac pedum digitos potissimum inficiunt, 

 inter cutem et cuticulam, ova Papilionum quodammodo sua figura 

 semulantur : sunt enim rotundi, exigui, subcandidi." I have re- 

 produced this passage exactly, because the Englishman Moufet 

 (1631) is usually cited as being the best acquainted with this mite 

 of any one in the middle ages, of whom, however, I must assume 

 that he was much less acquainted with this animal than the 

 Pontifex maximus of natural history at the commencement of the 

 17th century, Aldrovandi, and moreover, that he was the first to 

 introduce the unfortunate confusion with the cheese-mite. Mar- 

 tiny quotes the passage from Moufet's ' Insectorum Theatrum/ 

 Londini, 1634, p. 266, as follows : " Syro (apud Germauos ' Seu- 

 ren')animalculurn est omnium minutissimum, solens innasci caseo et 

 cerse et cuti item humanse. Syrouibus nulla forma expressa prseter 

 quam globuli vix oculis capitur; magnitudo tarn pusilla, ut non 

 atomis constare ipsum, sed unum ex atomis Epicureis dixeris . . , 

 Ita sub cute habitat et actis cuniculis pruritum maximum loco 

 ingenerat, prsecipue manibus vel aliis partibus. Hos peculiariter 

 vulgus acicula extrahit ; sed cum non simul tollatur causa, eorum 



