MITES AND TICKS. 
245 
DOG- OR SHEEP-TICK 
(enlarged). 
exclusively upon their hosts; they also occur on the ground, and under stones, 
where pairing and the hatching of the eggs take place. When in want of food, 
both old and young climb the stalks of grass and shrubs, and clasping the tips 
of the leaves with their fore-limbs, stand with the other legs stretched out behind, 
ready to catch the hairy skin of cattle as they sweep through 
the herbage. Also belonging to this family are the genus 
Argas and its allies, the species of which nearly equal the 
larger Ixodes in size, and although much less numerous in 
species and individuals have almost as extended a distribution. 
They may be at once distinguished from the latter by their 
coarsely granular skin, flattish bodies, and the entire conceal¬ 
ment of the capitulum beneath the projecting fore-margin of 
the cephalothorax. The species here figured {Argas reflexus) 
is habitually parasitic on pigeons, and occasionally occurs in 
England in places where these birds abound. A closely allied 
form from Persia—where it is known as the poisonous bug of Miana—is much dreaded 
by the natives, its bite being said to produce convulsions, delirium, or even death. 
The next family ( Ori- 
batidce) — the members of 
which are sometimes called 
beetle - mites, on account of 
their hard and horny integu¬ 
ment—contains a number of 
species found for the most 
part under the bark of trees 
or in damp spots on the 
ground, where they live by 
sucking the juices of plants 
and minute animals. The 
palpi are free and tactile, the 
mandibles pincer-like, and the 
tracheae, when present, open in the socket of the last pair of legs. The last family 
of true mites is that of the Sarcopticlce, which are either free or parasitic. They 
have no special breathing-organs; the palpi are basally fused to the rostrum, the 
mandibles are pincer-like, and the tarsi are often furnished at their tips with a 
sucker. The most familiar of those that are not parasitic 
are the species known as cheese-mites {Tyroglyplius), which 
feed upon decaying organic matter. The common cheese- 
mite {T. siro), which has the body armed with rows of 
long stiff bristles, is also found in flour and linseed meal. 
Another allied species {T. entomophagus ) frequently causes 
much havoc among insect-collections, entirely destroying 
the specimens if left unmolested, its presence in the cabinet 
being usually betrayed by the fine dust that results from 
its depredations. The most satisfactory method of destroy- 
pigeon-tick, from above and below (much enlarged). 
ino; it seems to be soaking; the cork of the box and the 
o O 
CHEESE-MITE (much 
enlarged). 
