350 A MINUTE TORMENTOR. 



their numerous progeny. Less prolific than the Acari, which 

 create upon the skin immense patches of irritation, the harvest 

 bugs confine themselves to a few circumscribed localities : their 

 favourite choice being the legs, the arms, and the corners of 

 the eyes, especially among young children. They are not 

 above domestic animals ; cats and dogs frequently suffer from 

 them, not, indeed, over the whole surface of the body, for 

 they are not so wandering as the Acari, but particularly inside 

 the shell of the ear. 



At the first glance you would scarcely believe that those red 

 points, apparently immovable, could be living beings, could 

 be animals belonging to an order of some importance. 



Let us attempt to isolate one of the animalcules with the 

 point of a pin : it is not an easy thing to do, because they 

 usually adhere to the epidermis in clusters of three or four 

 individuals. There, now we have succeeded, and here is one 

 before us : it is only the fifth of a millimetre in diameter, which 

 is, for most people, the very last limit of the visual function 

 b a (see the small white line in Fig 76, a). 



And, in truth, it would be impercep- 

 tible to the eye but for its bright red 

 9 colour. To study it carefully, of 

 course, you must make use of a very 

 strong lens, or, rather, of a micro- 



FIG. 76. a Leptus Autumnalis 



(nat. size), b Ditto (mag.) , scope. (See Fig. 76, b.) 



To this tiny animal has been given the name of Leptus 

 autumnalis ; the first, on account of its extreme deli- 



