ANIMAL PARASITES. 



Fig. 11. 



She was constant!}' infested 

 with little louse-like animals, 

 notwithstanding great cleanli- 

 ness and many attempts at the 

 extermination of the mites, 

 which were recognised by 

 Erichson as Dermanyssus 

 Avium. It was found at last 

 that the woman went several 

 times daily into the cellar, over 

 which the hen-roost lay. As 

 often as this was the case the 

 fowls flew up into their roosting- 

 place, and by this means the 

 woman was sprinkled with mites. The removal of the hen- 

 roost cured her of her supposed phthiriasis. It would perhaps 

 be advisable to refer this species of mite to the Acarus nidulans, 

 of which we find examples amongst sky-larks and small birds, or 

 perhaps to arrange it with those species of mites which we cer- 

 tainly sometimes meet with in the hair-follicles, and on the inner 

 wall of the skins of mice in small nests, and which I have 

 repeatedly found on the animals of my colony of mice. This mite 

 has also been found on the skin of the horse (the 'Veterinarian/ 

 Morton and Simonds, 1855, p. 443.) 



A mite has also been found by Busk in the matter of peculiar 

 large sores on the sole of the foot of a negro} The somewhat 

 mystical account of the case tells us that the negro had worn 

 the shoes of another negro from Sierra Leone, and that, according 

 to Stanger, similar animals occur in a river (it must have been a 

 species of Hydrachna], and according to Murray a peculiar prurigo, 

 which is difficult to cure, occurs in Sierra Leone, which is perhaps 

 connected with this mite. As the whole story is suspicious, we 

 can say but little upon this mite. According to some it is a 

 Dermanyssus. On the other hand there are also species of 

 Sarcoptes on animals (dogs and horses), which have a liking for 

 pus, and if there be any truth in the story it might be a Sar- 

 coptes. Willan has also described a small parasite in prurigo 

 senilis ; it was found in great numbers upon the skin and in 

 the linen of a patient, and was regarded as a flea, and very 

 indistinctly represented. At last it has been thought that these 



1 Appendix A. 



