FOREV;ORD 



Mosquitoes have generally been credited as the worst pests of 

 man and ajiimals, but ticks, in spite of their lack of wings, could 

 truly be considered to run them a close second both as pests and as 

 vectors of an even wider variety of diseases of man and animals. 

 Because of the varied habits of different species of ticks, of first 

 importance to an xmderstanding of the problems they create is an ac- 

 curate knowledge of their taxonomy and biology. 



Among the continents, Africa in particular is burdened with 

 more than its share of species. This first in a series of volumes, 

 with emphasis on the Svidanese tick faiina, will provide the basic 

 systematic and biological information that can safely be ssdd to 

 bear in a major way on the entire continent. Majiy of these species 

 occur far beyond the region under discussion. 



It will be evident to the specialized reader that the author 

 not only has a scholarly command of the pertinent literature based 

 on exhaustive library work and liaison with competent authorities, 

 but an unusual field experience of personal collecting in Africa 

 and elsewhere in the world. More thsin this, he has been able to 

 straighten out a number of knotty problems, particularly in the 

 genera Argas , Ornithodoros , Haemaphysalis , and Hyalomma , which con- 

 tain important disease carrying species, through study of his own 

 and of various museums' extensive collections. This expansion of 

 our knowledge of African ticks will be a major contribution, and 

 provide authoritative reference work for years to come. For exam- 

 ple, here for the first time is brought together the extensive 

 literature on Ornithodoros moubata , the relapsing fever tick, noto- 

 rious since Livingstone's vividly described, evil encounters with 

 it in the Congo. 



Host of the important species of African ticks are found in the 

 S\idan. The few that' are not, plus such aspects as relationships to 

 disease, will be treated in companion volumes to follow so that the 

 future student of any phase of the entire continental tick fauna 

 will undubitably resort to these elegant contributions as his major 

 reference. 



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