224 B. T. LEWIS ON SOME AUSTRALIAN TICKS. 



with which he mates, attaching himself to the animal just beneath 

 the female. 



" The pair will remain attached to their host until the tw^entieth 

 day, increasing in size but very slightly, the female being a little 

 larger than the male. From the sixteenth to the twentieth day 

 the male fecundates the female, 



" On the twenty-first day the female becomes fully mature, 

 releases her hold, and falls to the ground ; then crawls to some 

 secluded spot and lays her eggs, which in course of time (from 

 three to nine weeks) w^ill hatch, and then the life-cycle commences 

 again. 



" After the departure of the female, the male tick sometimes 

 remains for several hours, when he becomes detached, falls to the 

 ground, and rarely lives longer than two or three days." 



It is of course not possible to make comparisons between 

 observations made upon ticks in this country and those under 

 natural conditions in the warm countries where they are indi- 

 genous. Brisbane is in latitude 2 7° 28', or within four degrees 

 of the Tropic of Capricorn, whilst all the northern portion of 

 the Colony is intertropical. The specimens of ticks which have 

 been sent to me from various localities in Africa and China 

 have generally arrived in this country during our winter season, 

 the one exception being a yellow tick from a horse in Natal 

 which reached me early in June. I was fortunate in seeing this 

 tick lay its eggs, and in hatching the eggs so laid, and found that 

 those laid on June 6th hatched out on July 14th, or in about 

 six weeks, kept warm meanwhile by being carried constantly in 

 the pocket. The larvae lived from two to three months without 

 sustenance, although every opportunity was afforded them, and 

 they certainly underwent no change. I have also on many other 

 occasions hatched the eggs of cattle ticks from South Africa and 

 China, but alw^ays failed to develop them further, though the 

 larvae on one occasion survived nearly six months. It is also 

 a matter of some surprise to learn from Mr. Pound's description 

 that the complete development is reached in twenty-one days, that 

 the fourth pair of legs appear at the first moult when seven days 

 old, and that the pairing of the sexes takes place so long before 

 either individual has reached its mature stage. 



In the course of last year Mr. Pound mentioned in a letter 

 which Mr. Vezey read at one of our meetings, that he hoped 



