MITES OR TICKS. 683 



looking exactly like a grain of cayenne pepper as it glides across a leaf. It is seldom 

 seen until June or July, and is most common in the autumn, in some places swarming 

 to such an extent that the leaves are actually reddened by their numbers. They are 

 especially plentiful on the French bean ; and I well remember that when I was a little 

 boy I was horribly tortured by the Harvest-bugs, which came from the leaves of the 

 French beans among which I was employed, and, crawling over my shoes left a scarlet 

 ring of intolerable irritation round my ankles. 



While we are walking through the stubble-fields, the Harvest-bug is terribly apt to 

 make successful attacks upon our ankles ; and in the case of persons endowed with a 

 very tender skin almost drives the sufferer to the verge of madness. Gilbert White, in his 

 "Natural History of Selborne," tells us that warreners are "so much infested by them 

 on chalky downs, where these insects swarm sometimes to so infinite a degree, as to 

 discolor their nets and to give them a reddish cast, while the men are so bitten as to 

 be thrown into fevers." 



The Harvest-bug does not confine its attacks to human beings, but equally infests 

 horses, dogs, sheep, and rabbits. It burrows under the skin in a very short space of 

 time, and after a little while a red pustule arises, sometimes as large as a pea, occa- 

 sioning great irritation at the time, and much pain if it be broken or wounded. On 

 account of its red color, the French call the Harvest-bug the ROUGET. 



THE three other figures represent creatures belonging to another genus. The pretty 

 species in the lower right-hand corner derives its name of " venustum," or beautiful, 

 in consequence of the pretty coloring of its surface. The ground color of this creature 

 is deep black, upon which are set some patches of rich orange-red, edged with yellow. 

 The little lines arranged round the body are also yellow, and its legs are red. It is 

 moderately large, being about one sixth of an inch in length. 



The other two species are parasitic upon the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus, and 

 derive their name from the creatures which they infest. The HIPPOPOTAMUS-MITE, or 

 TICK, as it is sometimes wrongly called, is seen in the upper right-hand corner of the 

 illustration. The general color of this species is pale straw above, and deep liver-red 

 below, the limbs being of the same color as the upper surface, but rather paler. The 

 lines and streaks upon the body are black. Its body is decidedly convex, and 

 there is a very slight indication of a thorax. Its length is about a quarter of an 

 inch. 



The RHINOCEROS-MITE has also a convex body, the head and palpi are orange, and 

 the blotches upon the body and the limbs are of the same rich hue. This creature is 

 slightly larger than the preceding. It also belongs to Africa, being found on the 

 Borele, sometimes called the Rhinaster {Rhinoceros bicornis.}. 



Another species of Ixodes is seen in the succeeding illustration. All these creatures 

 are furnished with suckers, through which they can draw the juices of the animals on 

 which they are parasitic, and with a peculiar barbed modification of the parts of the 

 mouth, which enables the parasite to anchor itself as it were with living grapnels. 

 There is hardly any animal which is not subject to the attacks of these tiresome mites, 

 and even the hard-shelled tortoise itself is not free from them. They fix themselves 

 so firmly with their barbed grapnels that, if they are roughly torn from their hold, they 

 either leave their heads in the wound, or carry away part of the flesh. Under the 

 microscope the head of any Ixodes forms a beautiful object, and is easily prepared 

 by means of Canada balsam and pressure. 



These creatures often swarm in thick woods, and attach themselves for the nonce to 

 the leaves of shrubs, at no great height, waiting for the time when some animal may 

 wander near and become their victim. Sometimes they swarm upon an animal to such 

 an extent that they have been known to kill even a horse or an ox from sheer exhaus- 

 tion. The French call the Ixodes of the dog, the LOUVETTE, and in America all the 

 mites belonging to this group are known by the name of PIQUES. 



These " ticks," as they are popularly called, are extremely annoying in tropical 

 countries, where they swarm in every forest, and infest every living creature that passes 

 by, provided its skin be sufficiently soft to be penetrated by their beads. They are small 



