Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-05-18
TROPICAL BLOOD-SUCKERS,
The Garrapata and the Jigger, Two Small
but Formidable Pests.

The Garrapata and the Jigger, Two Small
but Formidable Pests.
It is an eternal mystery-to the un-
scientific, atleast-how all such vermin,
which live apparently on blood, con-
trive to exist under their usual circum-
stances. They do not seem fitted to
prey on other insects. You may OBJ
serve a harvest field actually alive with
feas in southern Europe. In the woods
of the Asiatic tropics mostly there is a
leech to every foot of ground. One may
find ones clothes busted with young
garrapatas in Central America as thick
as flour on a millers coat, and one may
kill so many mosquitoes in a maugrove
swamp of the far east by clapping
the hands together that one feels the
thickness of their crushed car
casses. Not one in millions among
these pests ever gets the chance to
taste blood It is said, indeed, that the
leeches congregate upon a path; even
ii this be true, the other plaques have
no such instinct. That any quadruped
manages to live in the American trop-
les is another puzzle to those who have
practical acquaintance with the garra-
pata. 1t has been mentioned how in
Vulnerable are the swarms of young,
each of which grows day by day until,
within the month it becomes as large
as lady bird, it's vile snout remaining
in the flesh where first planted, suck
ing without intermisSiOn. The most
brutal of riders examines his horse
every day; for, if he neglects that
precaution, the animal breaks down
promptly. But cattle are not thus
looked after; how do they protect
themselves? 1t is often remarked
as curious that so little game is
found in Mexico and the lands
to southwark, which might carry ten
myriads of deer for every one that
Craze their savannahs. Those who feel
surprised do not grasp the significance
of the garrapata. The real wonder is
that any animal survives in their do
main. 1t may be supposed that an
hereditary instinct counsels some ia
vored specimens to avoid the thicl1ets
where he dwellS.
The negua, or jigger, an inhabitant
of these same shores, is commonly re-
garded as a joke But if it gain lodge
ment unperceived, and establish itself,
frightful consequence ensue. Every
body has his or her feet examined
every day; but when nothing comes of
it after some months stranger is apt
to grow tired of the ceremony. Thus
one morning, reused by the chill of
dawn, we drew up our ug-entangled
our feet in it's folds-and screamed out
suddenly with pang as sharp and as en-
during as the human frame could bear
Our feather-headed boy looked very
grave as he sat TO work with his needle
in dead silence. The next half-hour is
not to be described in a paper that cir
culates among the young and guileless.
Finally two balls were extracted, black
and polished, about the size of marbles;
a few minutes more and they must have
burst, no doubt, with consequences not
to be imagined without dismay. These
were the eggbags Of two neguas, con-
tanning many thousand young, that
would have started operations each on
his own account forthwith. 1t is still
amazing that such big objects could re-
main in the flesh without discovery for
weeks But they lay just under the
instep, and thus escaped pressure in
walking. Saturday Review.