(db. a. c. ouuemans). list of dutch acaei. 195 



are always said not to suck blood. Even Pagenstecher doubts 

 of it. He says (Beiträge zur Anatomie der Milben , Heft H , Ixodes 

 ricinus) p. 1 7 : 



« Die beiden ungeschlechllichen Formen uud die erwachsnen 

 Weibchen können , und es fmdet das meist im frei schwärmenden 

 Zustande statt, mit leerem Darmkanal gefunden werden oder sifr 

 sind mehr oder weniger mit Blut gefüllt und finden sich nun 

 gewöhnlich parasitisch, allemal dann ein andres Ansehen gewährend. 

 Falls das erwachsne Männchen noch Blut trinkt , geschieht dies 

 doch keinenfalls in einem ausgezeichneten Grade und ich wenigstens^ 

 habe es , sei es frei , sei es einem Wohnthiere aufsitzend , nie 

 blutgefüllt und nie an einem solchen Wohnthiere anhängend ge- 

 funden ». 



A priori the assertion, that they don't suck blood, is very 

 bold, for if really they don't so, why then have they the same 

 structure of the mouth as the bloodsucking females? Why have 

 they that formidable weapon, formed by the coalescence of the 

 bases of the maxillipedes? Why have they such harpoon-shaped 

 chelicerae? Only to fix themselves in the vulva of the females? 

 This is far-fetched , for the female never tries to get rid of the 

 attached male, and the copulation of the male and female is very 

 easily loosened. 



In fact , they must have such formidable hooks both on the 

 coalesced bases of the maxillipedes and on the chelicerae to attach 

 themselves as firmly into the skin of any animal, as the females do. 



And really one of the two males which I possess of Ixodes 

 ricimcs Linn, was found firmly attached on a common cat. And 

 on the snake Triglyphodon dendrophiliim I found three males and 

 one female of Amblyomma lielvolum Koch attached in the skin of 

 the animal's neck so deeply between the scales, that only the 

 back half of the body and the extremities of the eight legs were 

 visible. 



1 2. On the denomination of the group , generally called Ixodidae.. 

 In 1806 Latreille in his Genera crustaceorum et insectorum , 

 and in his Considérations générales sur l'ordre naturel des animaux. 

 Tijdschr. v. Entom. XXXIX. 14 



