MITES BORNE 1!V llol SK-KIJKS 



155 



in some seasons, scarcely a i\y can be caught that is not infested 

 with a number of them clinging tenaciously round the base of the 

 wings." As it only possessed six legs it was doubtless a larval 

 fonii. This species was named Atoma parasiticuin and later 

 Astoina parasiticum by LatreilK''. Mr A. D. Michael informed 

 me that the genus was founded on Tromhidiuvi parasiticuin of 

 de Geer. They were really larval Trombidiidae and Atoma was 

 founded on larval characters; probably any laival Tromhidiuvi 

 came under the specific name. 



Fig. 70. M. domestica infested with TroinhidiKin mites (X). 

 Magnified nearly six times. 



Howard (1911) quotes the following on the authority of Banks: 

 "Latreille based a new genus and species on mites from the 

 house-fly and he called it Atomus parasiticum. This is the young 

 of one of the Harvest Mites of the family Trombidiidae but the 

 adult has not been reared and is still unrecognised in Europe. 

 Riley found these harvest mites on house-flies in Missouri, in some 

 years so abundantly, he says, that scarcely a fly could be caught 

 that was not infested with some of them clinging tenaciously 

 ^ Magazin Encijdopediquc, Vol. iv, p. 1.5, 1795. 



