and Uzbekistan. Its importance as a vector of tMs disease to man 

 requires investigation. 



If, as appears likely, it is true that the "H. savignyi " of 

 Soviet workers with ticks and brucellosis applie s~ actually to H. 

 excavatum , it should be noted that hereditary transmission and" 

 subsequent infection of the host by the bite of this tick is 

 claimed. 



The spirochetes of certain Russian relapsing fevers do not 

 survive in this species (as H. anatoJicum excavatum ) for even a 

 day. " 



CATTLE ; An important vector of theileriasis (Theileria 

 annulataj . 



BIRDS; Benign piroplasmosis of nestlings. 



IDEt^IFICAriON 



Males : Typical males are very distinctive but in almost 

 any field collection a large number of atypical specimens may 

 be found. Characteristically, the center of the subanal shields 

 is posterior of the central axis of the adanal shields. This 

 holds true for all flat, unengorged and slightly engorged indi- 

 viduals. Males that have not flattened after molting and before 

 being preserved, and engorged males, especially those that have 

 fed on large animals such as camels, almost always have the 

 subanal shields borne on an udder-like swelling and laterally 

 displaced as in H. dromedarii . (The subanal shields are al- 

 ways small and eTongate, frequently minute or even hardly dis- 

 tinguishable). Svich specimens can be distingxiished by smaller 

 size and by the characteristic strong depression of the posterior 

 part of the scutum between two smooth lateral ridges; this de- 

 pression is almost always densely punctate. (Some atypical H. 

 dromedarii tend towards a resemblance of this last character"}. 

 The lateral grooves are very short, restricted to the posterior 

 third of the scutum. A line of punctations frequently continues 

 anteriorly from the lateral grooves; these may be groove-like 

 enough to confuse keying the specimen. The scutum, away from 



- A50- 



