223 



On " The Blyborough Tick." 

 (Argas Fischerii). 



By C. F. George, M.E.O.S. 



Communicated by Mr. T. Curties. 



{Read November 24th, 1876.) 



Plates XXL, XXII. 



The Village Church of Blyborough, which is situated about three 

 miles from my residence, requiring extensive repairs, it was con- 

 sidered necessary to pull down the greater part of the building, and 

 when removing the roof, a large number of creatures were disturbed, 

 which were at first taken to be bugs. By accident I heard of this 

 circumstance, and it at once occurred to me that these supposed bugs 

 might possibly be Argas reflexus. As I had a great desire to add 

 this Arachnid to my collection of microscopic objects, I obtained a 

 few specimens, which, on examination, proved indeed to belong to 

 the genus Argas, but differed exceedingly from the descriptions of 

 Argas reflexus that I had met with. 



I therefore sent a living specimen to Mr. Fullagar, of Canter- 

 bury, who exhibited it on Sept. 6th, to the East Kent Natural 

 History Society, where the creature was considered to be a young 

 Argas reflexus ; its difference of size, colour, and shape were 

 thought to be explained by its being young ; growth was considered 

 to be sufficient to change these particulars. 



Mr. Fullagar kindly sent me two specimens of Argas reflexus 

 from Canterbury Cathedral ; these were the first I had seen, and a 

 very casual examination sufficed to convince me that they were 

 different varieties. My friend Mr. Curties took a -mounted speci- 

 men to the British Museum : a similar specimen was found there, 

 unnamed, said to be from the bat, and Mr. F. Smith considered 

 Argas reflexus to be the Argas of the pigeon, and the Argas now 

 under consideration to be the Argas of the bat. 



