LOUPIXG-ILL AND BRAXY. 303 



this and the layt named species I have found at an altitude of 

 more than 15,000 feet. 



5. Ixodes ricinus, Koch.— There seems to be great confusion 

 between this species and /. erinaceus. I have it from numerous 

 localities in the south and middle of England, but always from 

 herbage. 



6. Ixodes traheatus, Audonin.- — A small Ixodes, with the 

 anterior part of the body a deep black and the posterior part 

 red; it is common in Perthshire, Argyllshire, and Eoss-shire, 

 and probably in many other counties. T found it plentiful 

 among heather, in the neighbourhood of Oban and of Loch 

 Maree, in September. It is the species to whose powers of 

 fasting I have referred above. I took it plentifully off sheep in 

 Portree market, about the middle of September, also with 

 another (a small black species) off a sheep in a boat from the 

 island of Piaasay. (This is the species which I have found on a 

 roe.) 



7. Io:odes spJ — The small black species referred to above. 



8. Ixodes spJ — Another species somewhat similar to No. 6, 

 but brighter in colour, is common in the New Forest ; probably 

 these two species are identical, as also perhaps 



9. Ixodes spJ — A paler variety, three specimens of which I 

 obtained from a sheep which had been brought from Iceland. 



In addition to these, I have several species from Italy, which 

 I have not been able to determine. 



It seems to me that Ixodes is naturallv a vegetable feeder, 

 but that the adult females, possibly always, attach themselves 

 for a time to animals. If they really poison the blood of the 

 animals to which they are attached, it can only be, I think, by 

 conveying poison indirectly from plants on which they have been 

 already feeding. 



Note on Braxy hy Professor Williams. 



I have had several opportunities of seeing " braxy " during 

 this season, and so far as I can make out, it is nothing more than 

 an acute form of indigestion, with inflammation of the bowels and 

 flatulence, arising from eating food in a more or less fusted and 

 decomposing condition ; but before giving the Society a final 

 report, I should like the grasses on "braxy-land" examined in 

 November or December, when braxy mostly prevails, by a 

 botanist, who might be able to determine if anything deleterious 

 — such as some seed — is on or mixed with the grasses at that 

 period of the year. 



