Mite

an order of insect-like animals including ticks, itch mites, and "red spiders." The thorax and the abdomen are fused into one body and the head is distinct. The adult mite has four pairs of legs. The itch-mite burrows, especially between the toes and fingers of those whom it afflicts, but readily succumbs to sulphur or mercurial ointment. Many other mites are parasitic. The cattle tick of the Southern States is a large mite. The wood-tick is also a mite. The large sheep-tick is not a mite but an abnormal, wingless, parasitic fly. A mite that infests house plants is popularly called the red spider. Certain other mites, as the pear mite, take up their residence in the leaves of trees, causing ruinous blisters. Scavenger mites infest cheese and preserved meats.