HARVEST MITE. 121 



red pimple. As with our common ticks, the irritation lasts only 

 while the animal is securing itself, and its presence would after- 

 wards scarcely be noticed but for the pimple which results." 



The second species (Fig. 145 6, Leptus ? irritans) is also only 

 known in the Leptus stage. It is evidently the larva of a dis- 

 tinct genus from the other form, having enormous maxilla? and 

 a broad body; it is, also brick red. Mr. Riley says that "this is 

 the most troublesome and, perhaps, best known of the two, 

 causing intense irritation and swelling on all parts of the body, 

 but more especially on the legs and around the ankles. Woe 

 betide the person who, after bathing in the Mississippi any- 

 where in this latitude, is lured to some green dressing-spot of 

 weeds or grass ! He may, for the time, consider himself fortu- 



b 



145 a. American Harvest Mite; 6. Irritating Harvest Mite; the dots under- 

 neath indicating the natural size. 



nate in getting rid of mud and dirt, but he will afterwards find to 

 his sorrow that he exchanged them for something far more tena- 

 cious in these microscopic Harvest-mites. If he has obtained 

 a good supply of them, he will in a few hours begin to suffer 

 from severe itching, and for the next two or three days will be 

 likely to .scratch until his limbs are sore. 



"With the strong mandibles and the elbowed maxillre which 

 act like arms, this mite is able to bury itself completely in the 

 flesh, thereby causing a red swelling with a pale pustulous cen- 

 tre containing watery matter. If, in scratching, he is fortunate 

 enough to remove the mite before it enters, the part soon heals. 

 But otherwise the irritation lasts for two, three or four days, 

 the pustulous centre reappearing' as often as it is broken. 

 11 



