122 ACAEINA OR MITES. 



long. They hibernate as adults and eggs, but egg -laying 

 usually takes place in March and April. They produce a 

 marked, marbled, and rusty appearance on the foliage. They 

 are best destroyed by winter spraying with caustic soda wash 

 and spring spraying with paraffin jelly. Several others occur 

 in a similar way attacking fruit and flowers. In this family is 

 also placed the Harvest Bug {Lppfiis autumnalis), figs. 49 and 50. 

 This larval mite is the young stage of Troiiibidium holosericeum 

 (fig. 49). T. hjlosericeiiiii is a scarlet mite with a squarish 

 body covered with hairs and papillse, about the twelfth of an 

 inch in length. This mite, which is found crawling about 

 upon the ground, deposits eggs in July. These ova hatch 

 into minute, six-legged, orange-coloured larvas, the so-called 

 Harvest Bag, which lives as a parasite in the skin of man 

 and many animals, and produces violent itching. When full 

 grown the Harvest Bug is only '4 mm. long. Many species 

 occur in diff'erent parts of the world. 



Family G-amasidae. — In this family the mandibles are pro- 

 vided with very small nippers. They are found on the ground 

 and as partial parasites. The legs are 

 IV, i?' seven- jointed, the second pair being 



^' 14 3'^ S often larger than the rest. There are 



•vii^^^g^ t^yQ claws to the tarsi. The colour is 



li'W'-^"^^^"^ r^ generally light brown, or white; some 

 ^>^' are reddish, owing to the blood drawn 

 from their host. The most important 

 form is the Eed Hen i\Iite [Der)nani/.<f:ui: 

 F..!. 52. -Bed Hen Mite ariunt), which infests fowls and almost 



(ChnmiiiiiiiSits ainmii) ainl eg^f ' 



(greatly ;'iiiaiKed). all birds (fig. 52). This mite, described 



by Eedi, may be found in all unclean 

 hen-roosts and pigeon-houses. It is provided with a sharp 

 piercing mouth. It is a small mite, flattened, with bristly 

 abdomen and stoutish hairy legs. In colour this gamasid varies 

 from pale yellow to dark red. The larvae, which hatch rapidly 

 from the eggs, are white and six-legged. Like many partial 



