CHAPTER III 



TICKS AND MITES 



HE other group or Phylum of animals 

 with which we will be particularly con- 

 cerned is known as the Arthropoda, 

 which means "jointed-feet" and in- 

 cludes the crayfish, crabs, spiders, mites, ticks and 

 insects. Of these only the last three are of inter- 

 est to us now. It is customary to speak of spiders, 

 mites and ticks as insects, but as they have four 

 pairs of legs, instead of three pairs, in the adult 

 stage, and as their bodies are not divided into 

 three distinct regions as in the insects, they are 

 placed in a different class. 



GENERAL CHARACTERS OF TICKS 



The ticks are all comparatively large, that is, they 

 are all large enough to be seen with the unaided 

 eye even in their younger stages and some grow to 

 be half an inch long. When filled with blood the 

 tough leathery skin becomes much distended often 



making the creature look more like a large seed 



26 



