In cold climates siich as Saratov, Russia, development occirrs 

 only at temperatures over 20^0. Exposure to high humidity (pre- 

 svunably at cold temperatures) kills the ticks (Olenev 1926,1928a). 



The presence or absence of A. persicus in coastal areas fre- 

 quently is referred to in liter atiire. Loimsbury (1903B) stated 

 that A. persicus is everywhere common in South Africa, including 

 coastal towns and areas. Howard (1908) reported that in South 

 Africa this tick is common except near the coast and that the same 

 distributional pattern had been reported from Australia. Records 

 from a number of other localities indicate that the fowl tick 

 does indeed inhabit coastal areas. For instance, Theodor (1932) 

 reports this species especially common along the l-Iediterranean 

 coast and in Jordan Sea areas of Palestine. In Egypt, we find 

 it commonly in coastal villages and cities. We have also found 

 cast nymphal skins at Djibouti, the seaport of French Somaliland, 

 It occurs at Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast of Sudaji (Siidan Gov- 

 ernment Collection record) and at Hodeida on the opposite coast 

 in Yemen (Hoogstraal, ms.). In Reunion, Gillard (1949) reported 

 the fowl tick particularly common on the coast, and in Madagascar 

 it occurs chiefly in coastal areas (Buck 1935»194-8A,C). 



Concerning altittidinal range, A. persicus is frequently re- 

 ported as common in lowlands and rare or absent in highlands. In 

 mountains of the Sinai Peninsiila of Egypt we find numeroiis speci— 

 mens at elevations up to 6000 feet. 



Lewis (1939A) stated that in Kenya A. persicvis is present only 

 in Eiiropean areas. This is certainly not true for the Sudan, where 

 chicken flocks of many remote, indigenous tribes have been known to 

 be infested for half a centviry. More recently, Wiley (1953) indi- 

 cated that the fowl tick is increasing its rajige in Kenya. 



An apparent negative geotropism displayed by ttnfed larvae 

 reared from adults collected from trees serving as a heron rookery 

 has been observed by Dr. H. S. Hvirlbut at NAMRU_3, Cairo. At the 

 same time, larvae from adults collected from chicken houses ap- 

 peared to show a positive geotropism. The Fj. larvae of adults 

 from heron rookeries were inclined to prefer herons rather than 

 chickens as hosts and the reverse appeared true for larvae from 

 adults from chicken houses. Informal as these observations are, 

 they suggest an interesting research problem. 



- 71 - 



