104 BRITISH GALLS 



spring, either by crawlipg or by fastening themselves to 

 other creatures. 



" During their migration period, which is from the middle 

 of May to the middle of June, they exhibit curious methods 

 of locomotion ; the four short anterjpr legs are ill-adapted 

 for walking, and yet they continually crawl about at a rate 

 of twelve to fifteen times their own length in a minute. But 

 this only takes them from bud to bud at the farthest ; they 

 get carried farther afield by passing insects and spiders, to 

 which they adhere first by th^ stickiness of their bodies, and 

 then by curling round a hair or antenna in a worm-like 

 fashion, and holding on tenaciously. This can be shown by 

 lightly touching an open infested bud with a fine camel's- 

 hair brush, when the little white creatures will be found 

 wriggling among the bristles, yet holding on in a determined 

 manner. Their third method of getting about the world is 

 the most interesting. If one watches a community of these 

 mites in a bud under a microscope, one sees them con- 

 tinually standing up on their tails, waving the front legs 

 agitatedly ; then they suddenly disappear, and at first it is 

 hard to imagine what has happened precisely. The dis- 

 appearance is not so accidental as it seems ; the animals are, 

 in fact, leaping ! The two tail bristles act as springs, and 

 the mite covers about sixteen or twenty times its own length 

 at a jump. It is always seen that after standing upright, 

 waiting for a friendly insect to carry it off on its unsuspect- 

 ing body, the mite ceases to wave its legs, remains rigjid for 

 a moment, and then launches itself forth, torpedo-like, into 

 space. It is an entertaining spectacle to watch, for occa- 

 sionally by retaining too firm a hold on the bud, the leap is 

 rendered abortive, and the mite simply falls backwards with 

 considerable impetus instead of making a clear jump. It is 

 a suggestive fact that while the mites remain upright for 

 minutes in the still air of a room, yet they can be induced 

 to leap at once by blowing upon then\. It seems, therefore, 

 that they first try to get an obliging insect to carry them 

 away, and, failing this, take advantage of a puff of air to 



