684 



THE BED MITE. 



and flat when they first settle themselves on their victim, but they suck the blood with 

 such vehemence and industry, that they speedily swell and redden, until at last, 

 when fully gorged, they are as large as broad beans, and as easily crushed as ripe 

 gooseberries. 



In these countries, after a walk in a forest, eVery one is obliged to undergo a thorough 

 inspection from head to foot in order to rid himself of the ticks. When found, they must 

 by no means be pulled away, as their barbed heads would then remain in the wound, and 

 cause a festering sore. The proper method of detaching them is to touch them with oil, 

 when they immediately begin to work their way out of their holding places, and may 

 then be removed and killed. Sometimes a tick is only to be found by the pain which it 

 causes. A dull aching pang, for example, shoots at intervals up the arm, and the 

 experienced forester at once begins to look for a tick somewhere about the roots of the 

 fingers. The creature in such a case is usually very small, not very much larger than a 

 cheese-mite, but it still has strength enough to make its presence felt. 



Even in our own large forests, the ticks are numerous and unpleasant. In the New 

 Forest, for example, they are far too plentiful to be agreeable ; and after a day's walk in 

 the wood I have often been obliged to serve numbers of ticks with an oily notice of 

 ejectment. 



THE figure in the upper left-hand 

 corner of the illustration represents the 

 FLOUE-MITE, a creature that is but too 

 well known to millers and dealers in 

 corn. Although it is a very tiny creature, 

 it contrives to travel over the loose flour 

 with considerable speed. The well-known 

 cheese -mite is closely allied to the Flour- 

 mite. In these creatures the body is 

 covered with numerous stout hairs, which 

 are capable of movement, so that each 

 hair must have at least two muscles, 

 together with their tendons. Despite, 

 therefore, of the minute size of these 

 mites, their structure is not a jot less 

 complicated than that of many larger 

 beings, and possesses a wonderful series 

 of organs of which the higher animals are 

 destitute. 



The little vesicle at the end of the 

 foot is a beautiful object in the micro- 

 scope, especially if the mite can be kept alive while imprisoned under the field of the 

 instrument. In these creatures the females are larger than their mates. The eggs of 

 this mite are oval, very white, and covered with a sort of brown network. 



Just below the Flour-mite is given a much magnified representation of the BEETLE- 

 MITE. This genus is a very large one, containing a great number of species. Most 

 persons who have been accustomed to see the common Watchman-beetle (Geolrupes 

 stercorarius) in its wild state must have noticed the frequency with which the under part 

 of the body is infested with certain pale yellow mites. This particular species is here 

 represented. Sometimes the beetle is so covered with the mites that its whole body 

 swarms with them ; but, as a general fact, they confine themselves to the under surface. 

 Many other insects are victims of mites belonging to the genus Gamasus, the humble-bee 

 being very conspicuous in this respect. 



Closely allied to the beetle-mite is the terrible BED MITE, so called by the bird- 

 fanciers, in allusion to its colour when gorged with blood. When hungry it is of a light 

 yellow colour, but when it has fed, the blood shows its ruddy hue through the transparent 

 skin of the mite. It is a very small creature, and lives mostly in the crevices of the cage 

 during the day, coming out to feed at night. I always used to destroy them by inserting 



FLOUR-MITE. 

 'Acarus farince. 



BEETLE-MITE. 



Odmastis cokoptratdrniii 



SCARLET MITE. 

 Trombidium hirsutissimum. 



Ix6des thordcicus. 



