18 HARVEST MITES. 
irritation lasts only while the animal is securing itself, and its 
presence would afterwards scarcely be noticed but for the pimple 
which results. 
The Irritating Harvest mite* (Leptus irritans, n. sp. Fig. 5b). 
This is the more troublesome and, perhaps, better known of the 
two, causing intense irritation and swelling on all parts of the 
‘body, but more especially on the legs and around the ankles. 
Woe betide the person who, after bathing in the Mississippi any- 
where in this latitude, is lured to some green dressing-spot of 
weeds or grass! He may, for the time, consider himself fortunate 
in getting rid of mud and dirt, but he will afterwards find to his 
sorrow that he got hold of something far more tenacious, in these 
microscopic harvest mites. If he has obtained a good supply of 
Fig. 5a. Fig. 5b. 
Harvest Mites, 
them, he will, in a few hours, begin to suffer from severe itching, 
and for the next two or three days he will be likely to scratch until 
his limbs are 
_ With the o ri and the elbowed maxilla, which act 
‘Vike arms, this mite is able to bury itself completely in the flesh, 
thereby causing a red swelling with a pale pustulous centre contain- 
-~ ing watery matter. If, in scratching, the person affected is fortu- 
nate enough to remove the mite before it enters, the part soon 
heals. Byt otherwise the irrjtation lasts for two, three or four 
am the pustulous centre reappearing as often as it is broken. 
Calo ko Ee eee 
