334 



THE MITES 



bites or stings it does neither; worse than either, it just 

 tickles." 



The adult harvest mites (Fig. 137) are law abiding members of 

 the community, and attack only such animals as plant-lice, cater- 

 pillars and other insects. They hibernate in soil or sheltered 

 crevices and in the spring lay their eggs, several hundred apiece, 



in the ground or among dead 

 leaves. The eggs are very 

 small, round and brownish in 

 color, and were once classified 

 'fa as fungous growths! The 



FIG. 136. European red-bug, Leptus au- 

 tumnalis, larva of a Trombidium usually 

 thought to be T. holosericeum. X 150. 

 (After Hirst.) 



FIG. 137. An adult of the 

 kedani mite, a Trombidiid. 

 X 40. (After Nagayo et al.) 



newly hatched six-legged larvae creep up on blades of grass 

 or plant stems and await an opportunity to attach them- 

 selves to an insect. If successful in finding a host, or rather in 

 being found by a host, the mites gorge themselves with the 

 juices of the insect, then drop to the ground, crawl to some snug 

 hiding place and undergo a transformation. The whole inside 

 of the body is remodeled, a fourth pair of legs is acquired, and 

 after a few weeks the skin is shed and an adult trombidiid mite 

 crawls forth. 



It is while the larval mites are hungrily awaiting the arrival 

 of an insect upon which to feed that they attack human beings or 

 animals which may pass their way. They are so small that 

 they can easily pass through the meshes of ordinary clothing 

 and reach the skin, where they set up a severe irritation and 



