2l6 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [May, '15 



The petri-dishes containing the ticks were kept on a slightly 

 darkened shelf out of all direct sunlight. 



The period of preoviposition was fairly short. The number 

 of days elapsing from the time that the ticks were detached 

 from the ear to the time that depositing of eggs began is given 

 below : 



Tick No. .1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 

 Days 6 5 7 6 6 5 6 6 5 6 7 6 



When oviposition began an actual count was made each 

 morning of eggs deposited during the preceding twenty-four 

 hours, by means of a hand lens and a blunt needle to separate 

 the eggs. When counted they were then placed in a second 

 petri-dish having a number corresponding with the number of 

 the dish containing the parent tick. The daily removal of the 

 eggs from the dish containing the tick to a separate dish avoided 

 mistakes of counting the same eggs twice, and numbering the 

 dishes prevented eggs of one tick being mistaken for those of 

 another. 



The largest number of eggs deposited by one tick in twenty- 

 four hours was 434, and the smallest number was but I. The 

 largest number deposited by one tick during the entire period 

 of oviposition was 2401, and the smallest number was 194. 

 The total number of eggs deposited by all the ticks was 12,269. 



The eggs deposited by Tick No. 3 were nearly all in bad 

 shape at the time they were deposited, having the appearance 

 of being shriveled and dried up. Some of the eggs of No. 5 

 were also in bad shape at time of deposition. 



Twenty-five eggs were weighed within twelve hours of the 

 time they were deposited and the results showed the average 

 weight of each egg to be .000064 gram. As the total number 

 of eggs deposited was 12,269 this gives the total weight of all 

 eggs deposited to be .785216 gram. 



The longest oviposition period of any of the twelve ticks 

 was sixteen days, the shortest Was eight days. The following 

 table shows the number of eggs deposited daily by each tick: 



