does it justice. Snodgrass observes that '"the exact method by 

 vhich a tick bites perhaps needs more study than has been given 

 to it"'. 



According to Bertram, the capitulum of 0. moubata is es- 

 sentially similar to that of other argasid ticks (see Christophers 

 I9O6 for 0. savignyi , Robinson and Davidson 1913A, 8,1914- for A. 

 persicus ,~True 193^ for 0. coriaceus , and Sen 1934,1935 for OT 

 tholozani j although cert'ain modifications in the eyeless taalpan 

 are either absent in other species or have not been adequately 

 described, Bertram also differs widely from Sen in explanation 

 of specific structures sind fundamental interpretations. 



The capitulum (Figures 59 and 60), situated in a depression 

 (camerostorae) of the anteroventral body surface, consists of a 

 median hypostome flanked by a pair of four- segmented palpi and 

 a pair of long, shaftlike chelicerae arising from a conical pro- 

 longation of the basis capituli. Each of these hollow appendages 

 contains haemocoele. The hypostome is concave dorsally; ventrally 

 it bears rows of distinctive retrograde denticles. The chelicerae 

 distally each bear a small, triangular, articixlated digit, at- 

 tached by flexor and extensor muscles, with laterally directed 

 denticles. These digits make the initial incision in the skin, 

 A triple sheath arrangement of no little complexity encases the 

 chelicerae proximally. The buccal canal (i,e, '"mouth"') lies 

 between the dorsal chelicerae and the ventral hypostome; proximaL. 

 ly it is much compressed. The size of this canal is somewhat in- 

 creased by the medial emargination of the closely appressed che- 

 liceral sheaths and by the dorsal groove ('"gutter"*,) of the hypo- 

 stome which forms a food conduit. Extending into the center of 

 the buccal canal is a hollow, ""tongue-like process'", the basal 

 fusion of which with the hypostome forms a dorsal, blindly-ending 

 pouch, the buccal cavity, into which a salivary duct issues at 

 each posterolateral angle. The buccal canal opens directly into 

 the pharynx, as one might logically assume it should, except 

 that previous workers have found tnat in other ticks the basal 

 fusion of the hypostome, palpi, and dorsal conical prolongation 

 of the basis capituli causes the pharynx to open into the floor 

 of the buccal cavity. 



- 162 - 



