Ticks found on Man and his Domestic Animals. :V2') 



occur ill the Transvitiil. iiiul lias also heen found in Durban, lin1 it is 

 by no means common. 



The type has been found on sheep, g-oats. ox. mule, horse, cat, 

 dog', pig", leopard, bushbuek and man. and its vaiiety principally on 

 dog-, but Howard has also taken it on a cat, a hedgehog, and a b;)1. 



The life history of this tick is unknown. 



(2) Ixodes rubicundus, Neinnaun. 

 This tick is very similar to the foregoing species, from which ii 

 is distinguished by both the anal plate of the male and the anal groove 

 of the female being parallel, whereas in Lvode<< pilosus they are 

 horseshoe shaped. It is by no means a common tick, and has only 

 been found on sheep in the Cape Province. It is also capalde of pro- 

 ducing paralysis in sheep. I have received a female and male from 

 Air. H. W. Andrews of this Division, who took them off a paralysed 

 sheep at Middelburg, Cape Province. They were the only ticks found 

 on the animal, and it recovered shortly after the ticks had been 

 lemoved . 



The Dog Tick (Haemaphysalis leachi, And.). 



(J haracters.— Thin is a small tick easily recognisable by the 

 absence of eyes, the short hypostome and palpi, the latter of which are 

 triangular in shape, and by the absence of plates and adanal shields 

 on the ventral surface of the male. 



The males and unengorged females arc btdwn in colour, and the 

 engorged females slate blue. 



This tick is common and widely distribuied throughout Africa, 

 It is essentially a parasite of dogs and cats, and wild animals of the 

 dog and cat tribes, e.g. jackal, lion, leopard, civet cat, etc. It has 

 also occasionally l)een found on cattle and hedgehogs, and nymphs are 

 sometimes met with on rats and mice. They attach themselves to the 

 head and body of theii- host. 



TJie L/ife Historij. — This species requires three hosts in order to 

 complete its life cycle. The females lay on an average about 5000 

 eggs, which take about a month to hatch. After about a week the 

 larvae are ready to feed, and when they have found a host they remain 

 attached for 2-T days. Having engorged, they drop to the ground 

 and moult into nymphs in about a month's time. The nymphs, after 

 finding a host, remain attached 2-7 days, and then drop to the ground, 

 where they change into adults in about 10-15 days or so. The adults, 

 after finding' a host, remain feeding' upon it for about twelve days, but 

 the males remain much longer. The females usually commence to 

 lay eggs in 3-7 days after leaving- their host, the period varying 

 according to the climatic conditions. This tick is not found in the 

 Pretoria district of the Transvaal in winter — the cold period being- 

 passed in the egg stage. 



Relation to Disease. — This tick is the principal transmitting agent 

 of canine piroplasmosis or biliary fever to dogs in South Africa. The 

 organism causing the disease is imbibed by females when sucking 

 blood of an infected animal ; it then undergoes development in the 

 tick and penetrates the eggs. The larvae on hatching, although 

 infected, are not capable of transmitting the disease, nor are the 

 nymphs, but the adults are. Infected adults have been known to 

 tran.smit the disease after having fasted for seven months, 



