Rayetta and Crumby Ascertain Order Acari - The Mites and Ticks

Hmmm. I surmise that what we are dealing with here, Crumby, are members of either the Suborder Tarsonnemini or the Suborder Prostigmata, or the Suborder Oribatei, most likely the Suborder Prostigmata. These are possibly spider mites. Crumby , have you had any luck getting them to hold still?

Noper.

Course not, they run away from the light. And the bigger instars are nimble. Plus, CO2 probably riles them up. These CB mites dwell upon the phyllaries and amid the bracts, gnawing upon the presumptive fruiting bodies that are called by some, presumptive achenes. We have espied a great many of these mites in both Zexmenia hispida and Helianthus annua heads. Right Crumby.

Correct Rayetta.

Put some of the heads in the icebox, Crumby. Let's see if that slows them down.

All righty then, Rayetta, but it was freezing outside when I collected the heads. So freezing them may not slow them down.

Nevertheless Crumby, I want them slowed down. Put them in the freezer.

All righty then.

While Crumby is putting the mites in the refrigerator, I shall take this opportunity to reference Ms. Hope Remains, Ace Reporter, DNS, preview of the Kinglet's State of the Union address which reflects more upon what our ignoramus Kinglet thinks about, and what he is actually apt to do, rather than his actual address which somebody else wrote for him anyway. Remember that Hope indicated that our ignoramus Kinglet desires to attack the miserable Iranians to divert our attention away from his on-going attack on the miserable Iraqis. As Hope pointed out, the miserable Iraqis, after more than three years, still have no air conditioning and we are not seeing any flat tax revenue. That being so, the Kinglet has decided to attack miserable Iran. So he is busy making up justifications for attacking the miserable Iranians, offering to cluster bomb their primitive air conditioners, and fix them up with a fair, flat tax system.

Because the Kinglet is an ignoramus, it is impossible for the Druids to explain why he is fixing to attack the miserable Iranians, instead of, alternatively, the corpulent Saudis. But that's the way it is. Sometimes Druids can not understand the processes whereby ignoramuses come to conclusions. It seems to us that the Saudis are way more deserving of a good cluster bombing than the miserable Iranians. Plus, the US could steal way more from the Saudis if we instituted a fair, flat tax in Saudi Arabia, than we could ever steal from the miserable Iranians.

All righty then, here comes Crumby back from the refrigerator. Crumby, go fetch in some more receptacles.

All righty then, Rayetta.