of the Drakensberg escarpment, but to occnr up to 10,000 feet el- 

 evation in Basutoland. It is common in Highveld with good annual 

 rains, heavy frost, and snow in winter but seldom recorded from 

 dry Highveld. In the mixed grass veld of the middleveld, with 

 ten to 25 inches of rainfall annually and cold, sharp winter 

 frosts, it is almost entirely absent, though it does occur in 

 southern Transvaal middleveld. It is numerous in the Bankenveld 

 and Limpopo highlands and also in Bushveld regions of Transvaal, 

 In Karroo areas it dies out in areas with less than ten inches 

 of rainfall annually. Records from Southwest Africa are only 

 from the northern, more moist areas. In Southern Rhodesia, it 

 is especially common in eastern and northern areas. 



In the hot, more or less humid, coastal lowlands of Kenya, 

 R. s. simus is especially common (Wiley 1953). Dick and Lewis 

 119X7) consider this to be the most abundant and widely distri- 

 buted tick in the Kenya coastal lowlands and Wilson (1953) also 

 notes its frequency there in areas where R. pravus and A. gemma 

 are found (cf . pages 681 and 27A-). In the arid Northern Prov- 

 ince of Kenya, the glossy tick is less common than elsewhere in 

 the Colony, but it does occur anywhere under a variety of condi- 

 tions, whether these be hot and arid, cold, damp high altitudes, 

 or hot, moist coastal lowlands (Wiley 1953). Theiler (19A.3B), 

 supported by subsequent remarks by Santos Dias, noted that R. 

 s. simus is not only particularly abundant but actually the" 

 "iiiost ubiquitous tick in some parts of Mozambique. 



Study of data for the Soraalilands, in the coastal areas 

 joist north of Kenya, suggests that R. s. simus is common only 

 under local conditions in these less humid areas. From details 

 published by all investigators concerning the Belgian Congo it 

 would appear that in most parts of the colony this tick is 

 decidedly less common than it is in southern Sudan. 



In the Sudan, R. s. simus is coraraon everywhere in the south 

 and at least frequent Tn southcentral areas. It becomes more 

 localized and xincommon with the approach of semidesert conditions. 

 Many areas in which it occurs have a long, severe dry season but 

 rainfall of twenty to almost fifty inches anniially during the 

 wet season. King (1926) noted that although this tick is absent 

 in the desert areas of Northern Province, populations had estabu 

 lished themselves there when local conditions of humidity were 

 modified after pimp and basin irrigation was introduced. 



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