44 Arachnida and Myriopoda 



itching, and larval ticks are found in little vesicles which make 

 their appearance on the skin of the person attacked. In a few 

 individuals general symptoms were also observed, including weak- 

 ness, muscular pains, enlargement of glands in axilla, groin, and 

 other places. Occipital headache and stiffness of the neck and 

 limbs are also given as symptoms of this disease. Somewhat 

 similar cases are reported by Nuttall as occurring on the veldt 

 of the east coast of Natal and Cape Colony. Hindle and 

 Breinl suffered from a rather similar complaint caused by the 

 bites of larvae of Amblyomma kebraeum whilst experimenting 

 with these ticks at the Euncorn Eesearch Laboratories near 



Liverpool. 



Amblyomma hebraeum transmits a definite disease (Heartwater) 

 in sheep, goats, and occasionally in cattle. Enlarged coloured 

 models of the male, female, and larval form of this tick are 

 exhibited in the Central Hall of the Museum. 



Amblyomma cajennense, Fabricius. 



Amblyomma cajennense has a wide distribution in Central and 

 South America, where it bites man and also various domestic and 



wild animals. 



Stoll says of this species, in his volume in the " Biologia 

 Central!- Americana " : " . . . . The female, which abounds in the 

 woods and savanas [in Guatemala] on grass and bushes, is 

 occasionally rubbed off by horses, cattle, or dogs, and even by 

 man. It adheres tenaciously to the skin, fixing itself by per- 

 forating the cutis with its sucking apparatus ; and remains, when 

 undisturbed, for several days, till filled with blood, and then 

 probably falls off spontaneously by its own weight. If forcibly 

 removed, the sucking apparatus breaks off and remains in the 

 wound, causing a disagreeable and sometimes painful inflammation 

 for a considerable time, but I never saw any serious consequence 

 result from it. Even in its young stage the garrapata is of 

 parasitic habits. The young, which are distinguished by the 

 inhabitants of Guatemala by the name of " Mostacilla " (derived 

 from "mostaza," mustard), hang to the grass in clusters of 

 thousands, especially during the dry season ; and by their creeping 

 on the bare skin and frequent biting they form one of the greatest 

 plagues to the European traveller, who is sometimes kept awake 

 for hours during the night by them. . . ." 



