The Spinose Ear- Tick. 649 



The Only Eemedy. 



The ear-tick is a difficult tick to kill. Tank dipping does not 

 affect it, as its feeding ground within the ear is beyond the reach of 

 the dip. Cattle must be caught and the ears hand-dressed. Ordinary 

 dips are not satisfactory, as the tick has extraordinary resisting 

 powers. Petrol has no effect on them, and pure paraffin kills only on 

 the second day, and sometimes not even then. The mixture recom- 

 mended by Mr. Bedford — Stockholm tar, oil (any kind), and turpen- 

 tine, 2: 2: 1 — is an excellent killer, but care must be taken not to 

 smear the hair in the ear, otherwise when the ear is flapped the 

 mixture reaches the eye and causes rather severe irritation. Cooper's 

 have a special preparation for the spinose ear-tick wliicli has been 

 found most satisfactory. It is a thin fluid mixture which soon dries, 

 and therefore does not gain access to the eyes. As the tick leaves its 

 host a sexless nymph there is not the same cliance of males and 

 females meeting in the open veld as there is in the kraal. This, 

 together with the fact that larvae do not appeal- able to survive five 

 months' starvation, doubtless accounts for the mild veld infection. 

 The source of serious infection is therefore the kraal and cow-stable, 

 and cattle can be used in those places as a means of getting rid of 

 the tick. It is not feasible to exterminate the tick by burning or 

 spraying, as the moulting nymphs and laying females are protected 

 by tile kraal wall and I'V a covering of kraal manure. 



How TO Clean a Faem. 



Infected kraals and cattle may be cleaned by systematic ear- 

 dressing, say, once, a fortnight. The cattle attract the larvae, and 

 provided every beast in the la-aal is treated with an effective mixture 

 few ticks can escape. The wash should be allowed to run well down 

 into the ear, and the ear worked with the hand as the tick is very 

 deep-seated and many of them far out of sight. In post-mortem cases 

 many ticks were found in places that could only be reached by 

 cutting to the extreme base otf the external ear, and in one instance 

 on opening the ear to the osseous tube, which projects from the skull, 

 one or two nymphs were found within it. In heavily infected kraals 

 cows and calves will be found to have the hollows and grooves of the 

 ear, and also the passage to the middle ear, packed with ticks in all 

 stages from newly attached larvae to large mature nymphs. The ear 

 presents a very dirty and messy appearance, due to discharges from 

 the bitten places, together with numerous moulted skins, and it is 

 difficult at first glance to distinguish any but the larger nymphs. 

 Fed larvae, owing to their whiteness, their invisible legs, and their 

 immobility, are sometimes mistaken for eggs, while the fed nypmhs 

 are taken for females. Young calves up to three months suffer most 

 from the ear-tick. Its bite seems to be highly poisonous, resulting in 

 swellings at the base of the ear, at the point of the jaw, and in the 

 throat. There is often a copious discharge from the ear, and the calf 

 rapidly goes off condition, ceases to feed, and ultimately dies. On 

 one farm where the ear-tick had only recently made its appearance 

 the owner lost eight calves in as many weeks. In every case abscesses 

 were present. Before the advent of the tick a calf dying from disease 

 was practically unknown. After one or two fortnightly dressings the 

 rows and calves were entirely free from nymphs, Uie swelling begau 



