41 



tube, gorged with blood, can be seen as a variously shaped figure. 

 The ovigerous female is .70 mm. long and .40 mm. broad; the male, 

 .60 mm., and .32 mm. broad." — Neumann. 



Life history and habits — Eggs laid in cracks and crevices or in 

 rubbish, singly, about one a day. Hatch in three or four days and 

 after two or more molts become mature in about ten days under 

 favorable conditions. Intermittent feeders, most active at night, 

 and hiding during the day. May attack man and domestic animals. 

 Very long-lived, specimens having been kept in a pill box without 

 food for at least three months. Dispersal by shipping crates, show 

 crates, etc. 



Methods of control — Cleanliness and sunlight, removal of manure, 

 litter, superfluous boxes, boards, and all trash. Whitewashing, 

 with addition of four ounces of carbolic acid to each gallon of white- 

 wash. Spraying with kerosene emulsion; must be thorough, and 

 repeated in three or four days to kill mites which have hatched from 

 eggs. 



Superfamily SARCOPTOIDEA 



Itch mites, hair and feather mites — Small, palpi small, 3-jointed; 

 no eyes; no spiracles; tarsi often end in suckers. The itch mites 

 belong to the family Sarcoptidae, illustrated by : 



Sarcoptes scabei, parasitic within the skin of man and other 

 mammals, causing a diseased condition known as the "itch", scabies, 

 or mange. 



Description — Body oval or nearly circular, 200-235^ x 145-190//. 

 in the male, 330-450/i x 250-350/* in the female. Whitish, marked 

 by transverse folds partly interrupted on the back. Chitinous 

 hairs at the base of the legs and the first two pairs of legs are pro- 

 vided with pedunculated suckers in both sexes; the third and fourth 

 pair in the female terminate in long bristles, while the fourth pair 

 in the male has a pedunculated sucker. 



Life history and habits — Lives in tunnels that it excavates in the 

 epidermis, the fenjale at the bottom, the male near the opening. 

 The tunnels contain excrement and the minute eggs from which 

 hatch the hexapod larvae. Enormous, rapidity of increase. Disease 

 spread by contact, or, rarely by clothing or bedding of those infested; 

 may be contracted from horses and other animals infested. 



