HARDWICKE'S S CIE NC E-GOSSIP. 



171 



THE CANTERBURY TICK 

 {Argas reflexus). 



ryiHE genus Argas is nearly allied to the true 

 -■- Ticks (Ixodes), but may be known at once by 

 the flat, shield-like body, slightly narrowed! in front, 

 and by the short beak being closely applied to the 

 abdomen. The species are few ; among them is the 

 MaUeh or Poison-bug of Miana, to which travellers' 

 talcs give such a melancholy reputation. After 

 allowing for exaggerations usual in such cases, the 

 fact remains tliat this animal {Argas Persicus) is more 

 or less abundant in Persia and Egypt, from which 

 latter place specimens lie before me at this moment; 

 that they are found on the walls of houses ; and that 

 (like the common bed-bug) they attack sleepers at 

 night, leaving behind a painful wound and disappear- 

 ing at daylight. We are assured by the younger 

 Kotzebue, in his "Journey through Persia," that 

 sometimes the inhabitants of a village are entirely 

 driven away by these vermin. On the other hand, 

 we are also told that in Miana, which seems to be 

 its head-quarters, the poison-bug attacks strangers 

 only, to whom the bite is fatal within twenty-four 

 hours. But may it not be that fevers, which are 

 very prevalent in Miana, are the real cause of death, 

 and that it is to them, and not to the bite of this 

 animal, that strangers succumb ? 



The much-dreaded Malleh has an uncanny aspect, 

 which, to me at least, recalls the disgusting Surinam 

 toad ; perhaps on account of the indented surface of 

 the flat pear-shaped body. The whole of the upper 

 side, which is of a brownish-red hue, is thickly punc- 

 tured with round white cavities, extending in rows, 

 though by no means regularly, along the edge and 

 lower half. The eyes are wanting. In this respect, 

 as well as in the structure of the legs and beak, the 

 poison-bug is exceedingly like a second species found 

 in Germany. 



There is the mussel-shaped Tick {Argas reflexus).* 

 Its habits of life appear to be much the same as 

 those of its Persian relative, living in human habi- 

 tations, where it conceals itself in fissures in the 

 wall during the day, and at night issuing forth to 

 suck the blood of pigeons, especially the young ones, 

 which it not unfrequently kills. 



Such is the statement given by Latreille of this 

 tick. Independently of him, another Prench writer, 

 Hermann of Strasburg, has given an account of it in 

 his "Memoire Apterologique " (ISOS), where he 

 names it RhyncIioprion-\ columbre, expressing his 

 surprise that it had not been described hitherto. 



*The "Canterbury Arachnid" of p. 121, ante. 



tThis generic name was given by Karsten to the Jigger or 

 Chigoe, a species of flea, and therefore belonging to a totally 

 different order. The Chigoe is better known by Westwood's 

 prior title oi Sarco/jsi/lla penetrans,— W, W, S, 



since it had been known to his father for the past 

 thirty years as a troublesome parasite on pigeons. 



Up to this time Prance and Italy had been speci- 

 fied as the native lands of this tick, but Herr 

 Schalfer had suggested that it would probably occur 

 in Germany; and this suggestion was confirmed 

 about ten years ago, when the animal was found, 

 curiously enough, in two places situated widely apart 

 and under very interesting circumstances. 



In the beginning of the year 1859 specimens were 

 discovered by Dr. Boschulte at Camen in West- 

 phalia, in the upper chambers of a massive stone 

 house, in the centre of which was an equally mas- 

 sive tower, communicating through the window of a 

 bedroom (at least up to the year 1857) with a dove- 

 cot. According to the latest report, the ticks were 

 still to be found on the walls of this room in con- 

 siderable quantities, so that at any time of the year 

 numbers could be taken with but little trouble. 

 Prom the circumstance that individuals were cap- 

 tured of various sizes, it was justly surmised that 

 they prospered and regularly bred, although the 

 inhabitants of the house were few, and no longer had 

 any communication with the pigeons. 



In 1863 the clergyman at Preideburg on the Saal, 

 Herr Neide, sent two living examples of Argas 

 reflexus to the Zoological Museum there, with the 

 remark that they had caused much pain to his 

 children at night by biting them. As soon as this 

 news reached me, I begged him to give me some 

 more detailed information, and the substance of his 

 reply I repeat here. The ticks were found almost 

 exclusively in a room in the upper story of his house, 

 iu which (up to the year 1859) was a doorway and 

 along the wall a number of pigeon-holes. In the 

 following year, after some alterations had been made, 

 the ticks appeared in the rooms both above and 

 below this, and to this day cannot be entirely got rid 

 of. During the day they are never seen, either on 

 the person, the clothes, or the beds ; but each even- 

 ing they appear on the walls or the ceiling — always, 

 however, at rest, and never crawling; for the moment 

 any one comes near they lie perfectly still, and if 

 touched feign death. Gerstacker also noticed their 

 extraordinary dislike to the light in the specimens 

 sent him by Dr. Boschulte ; for no sooner did he 

 shake them from the collecting-bottle on to a sheet 

 of paper, than they hurried away to the darkest 

 retreat they could find, between the back of the 

 paper and the table. 



Most of the wounds inflicted on sleeping persons 

 occur on the hands and the feet, from which I infer 

 that they do not seek the warmth of the bed itself 

 so eagerly as does the common bug. The injury 

 consists of an indistinct red point, which is accom- 

 panied by a violent itching, less however on the 

 point itself, than on the surrounding veins. Por 

 instance, a wound made between the fingers causes 

 an itching in the whole arm up to the shoulder, and 



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