XIV, 2 Banks: Bloodsucking Insécts of the Philippines 123 
included among the insects strictly speaking, contains species 
most of which are highly important from an economic as. well 
as a morphologic and biologic standpoint. This class includes 
_the mites and ticks and is closely related to the spiders. All 
of the ticks and many of the mites are bloodsucking arthropods, 
and they infest both man and the lower animals in these Islands. 
The most important is the cattle tick, Margaropus australis 
Fuller (synonym, Boophilus), an account of which was given 
by me several years ago.”® That its effect upon the health and 
general welfare of our cattle is deleterious can hardly be gain- 
- gaid, and its habits are such as to make its eradication difficult. 
The eggs are laid on the ground by females that have dropped — 
from the host for this purpose. The young, when hatched, 
crawl to the tops of plants and gain easy access to passing 
animals upon which they fasten themselves for engorgement. 
The dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis Say) will attack not 
only dogs but also cattle, horses, rabbits, and man. Children 
-who are allowed to play on the floors where dogs lie, or with 
these animals, are sure to get the ticks between their toes and 
fingers and elsewhere upon their bodies. 
The males when fully grown are seldom over 2.5 millimeters 
in length, while the females, like those of the cattle tick, attain 
a length of 10 to 12 millimeters and are shaped almost exactly 
like the seed of the castor plant (Ricinus communis L.); so 
much so that some authors have called the order’ Ricini instead 
of Acarina. . 
Excellent accounts of ticks, as well as mites, are given by 
N. Banks,*° who describes in a very enlightening manner many 
species from all parts of the world. 
In the Philippines, as in several other parts of the world, 
“man is infested by a small, red mite, known in many portions 
of this country as twagao. This mite affects the axilla, groin, 
and other portions of the body where the skin. folds upon itself, 
and causes extreme annoyance by its burrowing mouth parts. 
The Philippine species is undoubtedly a Trombidium, but if it 
be closely related to the Japanese river-fever, or kedani, mite 
[Leptus.akamushi (Brumpt)], which in Japan causes a rather 
‘severe fever among rice harvesters and those who work in 
river lands, is not known, owing .to lack of sufficient material 
from both countries. 
” Bur. (Philip.) Govt. Laboratories (1904) No, 14, 13. 
“ Rep. U. S. Dept. Agr., Off. Secy. (1915), No. 108. 
