Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1894 — Worse than Fleas. [ARTICLE]

Worse than Fleas.

The red bug of Florida is a near equivalent of the chigre that infests blackberry patches in rsew York State and further South. The red bug is almost invisible to the naked eye, but he appeals strongly to at least one other sense. After the traveler has slept in a region where these insects abound, he rises next morning with an almost intolerable itching, and red lumps begin to appear all over his body. The red bug has burrowed into the flesh and doubtless deposited eggs in the burrow. The lumps and the itching stay with the victim for the better part of a week, and marks of the red bug's ravages are carried for nearly a month.