348 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



the larvae of the Angoumois grain moth, a pest of wheat. 

 Moreover, records show that the wheat joint worm was 

 especially abundant in Ohio during the years 1908 and 

 1909. Therefore, all people handling straw in Ohio, at 

 least, were probably attacked by these mites, which were 

 present in the straw probably, for the most part, as para- 

 sites on the wheat joint worm. 



Several very interesting cases of injury by this mite to 

 people who slept on straw mattresses have been reported 

 by Goldberger and Schamberg. An outbreak of dermati- 

 tis took place in 1909 among some sailors on a private 

 yacht anchored in the Delaware River in Philadelphia. 

 An investigation of these cases, by the two physicians, 

 showed that the straw in the mattresses on which the 

 sailors slept was infested by myriads of this predaceous 

 mite. Experiments made with the mites on other individ- 

 uals soon demonstrated that the mites in the straw caused 

 the skin eruptions on the bodies of the sailors. Other 

 sailors in other boats plying along the river were reported 

 about the same time as suffering from the same trouble. 

 It was soon shown that these men also were sleeping 

 on new straw mattresses. Other cases occurred in 

 Philadelphia, practically every one of which was traced 

 to a new straw mattress. The straw used in these mat- 

 tresses was eventually traced through the manufacturers 

 as having come from New Jersey and Indiana. The 

 straw from New Jersey was infested with the mites, which 

 were probably parasitic upon the larvae of the Angoumois 

 grain moth which was abundant on wheat in New Jersey 

 that season. The straw from Indiana was probably 

 infested with the joint worm, which accounts for the 

 presence of the mites in those mattresses. 



