440 



STATE BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



poultry lie or roll. From being seen in sack localities, the mature insects are 

 sometimes called sand-fleas. 



REMEDIES. 



To thrive, aye to live, the inchoate fleas must liave dirt, hence cleanliness is 

 a first-class preventive. The straw in kennels should frequently be burned and 

 clean straw added. Frequent sprinkling of the poultry house and yard with a 

 strong solution of carbolic acid will destroy the larvse. I have found that a 

 mixture of kerosene oil and lard, placed in three or four places about a dog, 

 ATOuld immediately free it of the pests. A wash made by mixing one part of 

 kerosene to ten parts of water, or three parts of carbolic acid to 100 of water, 

 or a strong decoction of tobacco water, formed by steeping two pounds of 

 tobacco in ten gallons of Avater, if applied to the animal and thoroughly rubbed 

 in, will be completely efficacious, and do the animal no harm. 



The Sarcopsylla penetrans, Linn,, or jigger of the tropics, is a serious pest 

 to the inhabitants of those regions. They feed, breed and live under the toe- 

 nails, where they cause distressing sores, which in rare cases are so serious as 

 to demand amputation of the part affected, 



SHEEP-TICK. — {MeUophagus acinus, Linn.) 



This insect is a degraded Dipteron of the family Hippobosciche. Some 

 members of the family, like the horse-tick or forest fly, have wings; but the 

 sheep-tick is apterous. The body is not compressed laterally as is that of the 

 flea, but from above. The head is not sunken, as stated by several authors, as 

 will be seen by Fig. 4, which represents the head and its organs. The antenna3 



(Fig. 4, c) are minutes, sub-globular, 

 and deeply sunken into pits. They are 

 covered Avith very fine hair over their 

 entire surface, while from the front pro- 

 ject quite coarse hairs. It is stated by 

 some entomologists that these organs 

 are close together, which, as will be seen 

 by the figure, is not true. The eyes, 

 (Fig. 4, d) are long and narrow. The 

 proboscis (Fig. 6, a) is plainly visible, 

 and as long as the head, and is really a 

 tube within a tube. The outer tube con- 

 sists of two semi-cylindrical pieces (Fig. 

 4, b, b,) probably the mandibles, though 

 HEAD OF sHEEi'-TicK— MAGNIFIED 25 TIMES, somc authors Call thcm the maxillae, which, 

 Avhen close together, form a very perfect tube (Fig. G, a). Within these is the 

 second tube (Fig. 4, a) which is twice as long as the other, though, when not 

 in use, it may be so withdrawn as not to extend to the middle of the other 

 tube. I have seen this inner tube protruded to double the length of the other 

 Avhile I have been holding the insects in my hands. This central tube (Fig. 4, 

 a) consists of three pieces ; one the larger — without doubt the labium — is 

 grooved, and so receives tlie other slimmer lancet-like pieces — the maxilhv I 

 think — as to complete the tube. 



These spider-like ticks move with equal facility forwards, backwards or side- 

 wise. Their claws (Fig. v, e) which terminate the feet, are sharp and'strong. 



Fig. 4. 



