FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 197 



THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY TICKS UPON 

 THEIR HOSTS. 



By C. A. Barber, M.A., 



NHL within th i 1 i - year or so there wj,3 nothing definitely 

 !c.i i v l abou of Jamiici. For many years it was 



felt that 1 le were • ivere thai something 



ought to be done; bat it was not even known whether these 

 belonged to one and the same species, or to widely 

 differenl families. They might belong to forms which in other 

 countries are invariably ace impanied by grave diseases, or to the 

 comparatively harmless pests found in all parts of the world 

 where domestic animals are reared. 



At the instance of the Curator of the Institute of Jamaica, 



collections were made, and already there are known to be five 



■s in that islan I, one of which a according to recent 



bigations, to be closely connected with the dreaded Texan 



cattle fever of the Southern Stal 



In our own Islands only two have been determined, and 



one of these is almost if not entirely confined to Antigua. It 



has been the custom in the latter island to put down our troubles 



to the larger form — the Gold Tick — but very probably a little 



study would reveal the fact that there arc other species upon 



our cattle and domestic animals. It would be important to 



blish whether the Texan cattle tick — Boophilus bovis — 



which has a wide range in our geographical region, is present in 



tli is Group. So far, none of the Jamaican species has been 



I in our islands — a somewhat anomalous fact. It is highly 



bble that some of the Jamaican ticks are present in the 



i. I ! ■ ; K an 1 i- will be a useful piece of work to send 



any collections of ticks fr i a di ferent parts of the Colony to the 



iultural D lent for determination. (They will travel 



well in any weak spirit.) 



■ i s first consider the effects produced upon cattle by 

 ticks. We shall then be able more el< irly to recognise the 



» on our guard against these t rouble - 

 • but inc 



[t is a iii natural history that the female 



tick may, in a few i significant Hat-bodied 



little extent, solely 



1 of its host. An il ion made 



by l> : !:< before 



ail- starl ling result. 



y as the 

 - drain upon the 

 animal thi i of blood must be. 



