little if any wandering. If a female is placed near a male, con- 

 siderable excitation is caused. A male may copulate with several 

 females, but females apparently accept only a single male. Copu- 

 lation may be very swift or may apparently extend over several 

 days. Females do not move from their feeding site until they 

 drop from the host. 



Ecology 



See also section on HOSTS above. 



In Algeria, adults are rarely seen in winter but begin to 

 appear in March and continue till October, maximum densities 

 being reached in April, May, and June (Algerian seasons are 

 comparable to those of southern United States). Nymphs are 

 found mostly during the summer. With slight variation, this 

 seasonal picture is typical for H. marginatum wherever it oc- 

 curs. " 



In the Crimean forest (Melnikova 1953) adiilts are found 

 dtiring the sirnmer, March to September, but rare individuals 

 (?mostly males) may be seen at any time of the year. Larvae 

 and nymphs infest hares from the end of June to the first half 

 of September. Nymphs are most common on hares in the latter 

 part of August; for example, a hare on 2 August yielded 100 

 nymphs while another on 17 August yielded 390 nymphs. In this 

 forest reserve, H. marginatum (= H. p. plumbeum ) occurs in all 

 ecological zones""and in all types'~or forest . In pure stands 

 of conifers, it is, however, comparatively rare. The most 

 favorable habitats appear to be valleys -with small open fields 

 between the mountains. 



In Transcaucasia, this species occiirs equally in both high- 

 land and forest zones and in desert and steppe formations and 

 is found in every type of landscape in that area (Pomerantzev, 

 Matikashvily, and Lototsky 19^0). In Armenia, it occurs in 

 the Artemesia semidesert of the Arax valley (Pomerantzev 193A-) 

 and at altitudes of 65OO feet and over (Lototsky and Popov 193A) . 



On the Crimean steppes, adults are most common in July (May 

 and June according to Kurchatov 19A.QA). There, the greatest 



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