Upon the retiirn of our party to Cairo in 1950, study of these 

 collections comnenced. Diiring the course of the literatiore review 

 necessary for this work, it became apparent that much data was so 

 scattered as to be of little use, that a certain amount of earlier 

 inaccuracy or vagueness was frequently ttncritically quoted and re- 

 ported, and that our specimen material contributed no little amount 

 of new information on African ticks. Interestingly enough, though 

 much new data were obtained, only two completely undescribed spe- 

 cies and a few previously erroneously recognized species were in- 

 cluded in the collection. This would indicate that the skeleton 

 of knowledge of East African ticks is rather complete but that the 

 covering body of supporting data is still much in need of develop- 

 ment. 



In the light of these observations, it was decided to add a 

 literature survey to the Sudan tick report ajid to commence the re- 

 view of Africaji tick- borne diseases. This latter report is an 

 outgrowth of attempts to firxi details of African tick-borne diseases 

 in current textbooks on medical entomology. Suffice it to say that 

 the study of these textbooks was most disappointing with respect 

 to accuracy, weight of controversial information, and evaluation 

 of important factors in relation to each disease. 



In order to make the already-available tick collection more 

 broadly representative of the overall composition of the local 

 tick faiina, a collecting trip in the Sudan was undertaken during 

 December 1951 and January 1952. The Sudan Government collections 

 at Wad Medani were also studied, and additional information on 

 tick distribution in the Siidan was incorporated into the present 

 report. At the same time, the Sudan Veterinary Service requested 

 its staff in various Provinces to collect and send specimens for 

 determination. These latter collections added valuable data on 

 distribution of ticks infesting domestic animals, which are often 

 also those most important in relation to hunan diseases. Subse- 

 quently, other collections were also identified for the Sudan 

 National Museum and for Gordon College, Khartoum, and their data 

 recorded. 



During the coiirse of these studies, a number of taxonomic 

 problems, background questions, and literature-evaluation uncer- 

 tainties have arisen. Opinions of specialists in various parts 

 of the world have been widely solicited in order to settle these 

 matters so far as possible, 



- 17 _ 



