Vol. XXV, pp. 29-38 March 19, 1912 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A NEW SPECIES OF DERMACENTOR AND NOTES ON 

 OTHER NORTH AMERICAN INODIILE. 



BY F. C. BISHOPP. 



[Published by permission of the < 'liief of the Bureau of Entomology.l 



In connection with the work conducted by the Bureau of 

 Entomology in determining the distribution of the Rocky 

 Mountain spotted -fever tick, Dermacentor venustus, a large 

 amount of interesting material has been accumulated. Among 

 the thousands of specimens of ticks sent in by agents of the 

 Bureau and several hundred correspondents throughout the 

 western United States, but two new forms were discovered, one 

 of these a new variety (ntgosus) of Ixodes cookei, has been pre- 

 viously described by the author; the other, a new species of 

 Dermacentor, is described herein. Specimens of an Ixodes, 

 recently described as /. kingi, were also collected. Representa- 

 tives of this form were, however, in the National Museum before 

 the investigation of the spotted-fever tick began. 



It seems surprising that more undescribed ticks were not 

 found among this large amount of material from a region which 

 has not been carefully worked over especially with reference to 

 its tick fauna. A total of about 1500 lots of ticks were col- 

 lected in 225 localities in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific 

 States. It should be noted, however, that the majority of the 

 specimens were taken on domestic animals. Systematic collect- 

 ing of the wild animals and birds throughout this region would 

 no doubt reveal the presence of many more new forms. 



It is thought best to publish occasional short articles contain- 

 ing certain systematic and biologic notes such as are here pre- 



6— Pnoc. Biol, Soc. Wash., Vol. XXV, 1912. (29) 



