Ticks found on Man and his Domestic Animals. 329 



to the body or in the ears of the dog, ox, horse. <>;():it. sheep, vurious 

 species of buck, hares, and bush pigs. 



This tick is also concerned m the transmission of East Coast fever 

 to cattle, and has, in addition, been proved to transmit gall-sickness 

 to cattle. Gall-sickness is transmitted by larvae whose niotliers 

 became infected through feeding on an infected animal. 



The life cycle is similar to that of tlie Brown Tick. 



77je European Brown Tick (Rhiplcephalu^ sanguineus, Latr.). 



This species closely resembles the Brown Tick, from which it can 

 l>e distinguished by its smaller size, and by the punctations on the 

 scutum being more variable in size. The males, when fully fed, often 

 have a small, stumpy caudal protrusion (tail). This tick is fairly 

 common in South Africa. It is mainly parasitic upon dogs, but has 

 also been found on cattle, sheep, and cats, and on wild animals, such 

 as hares, animals of the dog tribe, etc. They are usually found on 

 the bodies of their hosts. 



Life History. — This tick, like the other brown ticks, requires 

 Ihiee hosts in order to complete its life cycle. The females lay 1400 

 lo 8400 eggs, which take about seventeen to nineteen days to hatch. 

 Tlie larvae remain four days on their host, and, after dropping off. 

 take five to eight days to moult into nymphs. The nymphs also 

 remain four days on their host, and take eleven to twelve days to mouli 

 into adults. The females remain on their host for seven to twenty- 

 one days. 



IJiifed larvae have been kept alive for 253 days, nymphs for 

 ninety-seven days, and adults for as long as 570 days without food. 



Relation to Disease. — It has l)eeri proved to be a carrier of biliary 

 fever or canine piroplasmosis to dogs in India, and probably plays a 

 part in the transmission of this disease in South Africa, but not to the 

 same extent as that of the Dog Tick (Haeniaphjtjsalis leachi , And.). 



The piroplasm may be transmitted either by the nymphs of 

 R. sanguineus, which have become infected through their mothers 

 feeding on an infected dog, or by adults which have fed on an infected 

 dog in their nymphal stage, whereas it is only transmitted by the 

 adults of H. leachi, which have derived their infectivity through their 

 mothers feeding- on an infected animal. 



There are three other species of Brown Ticks which have been 

 recorded from South Africa, namely, the Eyed Tick (Rhipicephalus 

 oculatus. ]^eu.), the Congo Brown Tick (Rhipicephalvs hmulntus, 

 Xeu.), and Rhipicephalus bursa, Can. and Fanzago. 



The Eyed Tick has, like the Red Tick, hemispherical eyes, 

 whereas all the other brown ticks have flat eyes. It has been found on 

 cattle in the Transvaal and East Africa, ajid on a hare in Damaraland. 

 It is very rare. 



The*^ Congo Brown Tick is another rare species in South Africa, 

 it having only been taken in the Zoutpansberg District, Transvaal. 

 It can be distinguished by the shape of the adanal shields of the male, 

 which are produced behind into two points. This tick is found on 

 cattle, sheep, goat, dog, antelope, and hedgehog. 



Rhipicephalus bursa has been recorded from the Transvaal and 

 Cape Province, but it is not a common species in this country It is 



