JIGGERS OR "RED-BUQS: 



87 



Its flight is so swift that one can scarcely follow it 

 with the eye. The only way I can catch them is by 

 striking wildly at them with the net as they come 

 along. It is like striking at a base ball pitched with 

 exceeding swiftness. I can always tell when I have 

 made a capture by the thud with which it hits the 

 bottom of the net. 



The "red-bug" has shown its colors, or, rather, its 

 bites. My ankles are sore with the eruptions due to 

 their burrowing. From what I can see of them they 

 are only the northern jigger, Leptus irritans Riley. 



This is a minute reddish insect, belonging to the 

 group of mites. In the larval form, the one in which 



Fig. 26 Jiggers. (Two species.) 



Leptvt irritans on the right. 

 (After Riley.) 



it occurs as a pest, it has six legs instead of eight, 

 and a pair of very large maxillae, or arms. Dr. Riley 

 has given a popular account of this pest, as follows : 

 "Woe betide the person who, after bathing in some 



