CABBAGE SEED MITE. 



119 



like the Cheese mite, which we have alive at the time of writing, 

 in a box containing the remains of a Lucanus larva, which they 

 seem to have consumed, as both young and old are swarming 

 there by myriads, the young are oval and like the adults, except 

 that they are six-legged, the fourth pair growing out after a 

 succeeding moult. 



Such is a brief summary of what has been generally known 

 regarding the metamorphoses of a few species of mites. In 

 a few kinds no males have been found; the females have been 

 isolated after being hatched, and yet have been known to lay 

 eggs, which produced young without the interposition of the 

 males. This parthe 

 nogenesis has been 

 noticed in several spe 

 cies. 



These insects often 

 suddenly appear in 

 vast numbers on vari 

 ous articles of food 

 and about houses, so 

 as to be very annoy 

 ing. Mr. J. J. H. 

 Gregory, of Marble- 

 head, Mass., has found 

 a mite allied to the 

 European species here 

 figured (Fig. 144) very 

 injurious to the seeds 

 of the cabbage, which- 

 it sucked dry. This is an interesting form, and we have called 

 it Cheyletus seminivorus. It is of medium size, and especially 

 noticeable from the tripartite palpi, which arc divided into an 

 outer, long, curved, claw-like lobe, with two rounded teeth at 

 the base, and two inner, slender lobes pectinated on the inner 

 side, the third innermost lobe being minute. The beak termi 

 nates in a sharp blade-like point. 



We have received a Cheyletus-like mite, said to have been 

 &quot;extracted from the human face&quot; in New Orleans. The body is 

 oblong, square behind ; the head is long and pointed, while the 

 maxillae end in a long, curved, toothed, sickle-like blade. That 

 this creature has the habits of the itch mite is suggested by the 



144. Cheyletus. 



