188 ANIMAL FORMS 
of their colors, activity, and gracefulness before the females ; 
and the latter, after watching these exhibitions, are said.to 
select the one who has “shown off” in the most pleasing 
fashion. The life. after this may be stormy, resulting in 
the death of the male; but ordinarily the results are not 
so disastrous, and in a little while the female ‘deposits her 
eggs in cases which she spins. In these the young develop, 
sometimes wintering here, and emerging in the spring to 
scamper about in search of food, or to drift through the 
air to more favorable spots on fluffy masses of cobweb. 
Few groups of animals are more interesting objects of 
study and more accessible. Their bites are rarely more 
serious than those of the mosquito—never fatal; and a 
careful study of any species, however 
. common, will undoubtedly bring to 
light many interesting and unknown 
facts. 
134. The mites and ticks—The 
mites and ticks are the simplest and 
among the smallest of the animals 
belonging to this group. To the at- 
tentive observer they are rather com- 
mon objects, with homes in very dif- 
ferent situations. Some occur on liv- 
ing and decaying vegetation, in old 
flour and unrefined sugar, while oth- 
ers live in fresh water and a few in the sea. Almost all 
tend toward parasitism. Some of the insects which they 
pierce and destroy are a pest to man, but on the other hand 
some are intolerable owing to the diseases they produce. 
As to other parasitic organisms, degradation of structure 
is manifest. The respiratory system, so important to the 
active life of the insects, may be absent, the animal breath- 
ing through its skin. The circulatory system may be want- 
ing, the blood occupying spaces among the various organs 
being swept about by the animal’s movements. And many 
Fig. 85.—The itch-mite (Sar- 
coptes scabei). 
