28o 



ARACHNOIDEA. 



Glyciphagus Buski. 

 Copied from Prof. Busk s figure. 



CASE Prof. Busk ought to come in, which we have taken the liberty to 

 nominate after that eminent naturaUst 



It was found beneath the cuticle of the sole of the foot of 

 a negro, who had been admitted into the Seaman's Hospital 

 Ship on the Thames, in 1841, with large sores of a very peculiar 

 character, and confined to the soles of the feet. On examining 



the secretion of these sores the 

 insect in question was found, but 

 dead, and partially crushed or 

 broken, as represented in the 

 woodcut. It appeared that the 

 disease was caused by its burrow- 

 ing immediately beneath the thick 

 cuticle, which thus became irregu- 

 larly detached, being, as it were, 

 undermined by galleries branch- 

 ing in all directions. The disease was attributed to the wearing 

 of a pair of shoes which had been lent to another negro, whose 

 feet had been similarly affected for nearly a year, and who 

 wore the shoes thus lent for a day or two. The negro under 

 Mr. Busk's care was a native of, and came from the West 

 Indies, and was not aware that a disease like his was ever known 

 to occur there, but the negro to whom he had lent the shoes came 

 from Sierra Leone ; and Mr. Busk stated in conjunction with 

 this, the remarkable fact that in some water brought by Dr. 

 Stanger from the river Sinoe on the coast of Africa, one nearly 

 perfect specimen, and fragments of others very similar, if not of 

 this identical Acarus were found, rendering it, as he thought, 

 probable that the first man contracted the disease under which 

 he had laboured so long from some external source. Mr. Busk 

 thought it not a very unlikely explanation that the insect might 

 eventually prove to be the parasite of some aquatic bird, or other 

 animal frequenting watery places j and he adds as pertinent to the 

 subject, that he had been informed by Staff Assistant Surgeon, 



