In the course of surveying the internal parasites of domestic animals, a large number of eggs and mites were detected in the feces and feeds of cattle, pigs, chickens and ducks. Three kinds of mites were identified in the present studies : Acarus siro (Linnaeus), Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) and Cheyletus malaccensis (Oudemans).
The eggs of the mites were similar to those of flukes. In the fecal examination, therefore, it is necessary to differentiate the mite eggs from fluke eggs.
The mites found in the present studies live by organic materials. Thus, they were found in the mixed commercial animal feeds. The spoiling of animal feeds by these mites remains to be verified. The damage of the gut epithelium of animals by these adult mites has to be examined more thoroughly, a1though macroscopic changes were not detected in the present studies.
In the commercial animal feeds, the mites were largely found during the warm, humid seasons. As these mites can cause dermatitis in man, care should be taken not to contact continuously with the contaminated feeds.
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