FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 109 



between Nepaul and Sikkim on the Himalayas. Probably, 

 originally introduced by cattle, they are now multiplying in a 

 region destitute of mammals, and are therefore dependent for 

 their nutrition ujwn the plant world. 



The naturalist Bates thus refers to their presence in the 

 Amazon region of South America. "The higher and drier land 

 is everywhere sandy, and tall grasses line the borders of the 

 broad alleys which have been cut through the second-growth 

 woods. These places swarm with carapatos, ugly ticks belonging 

 to the genus Ixodes which mount to the tips of blades of grass 

 and attach themselves to the clothes of the passers-by. They are 

 a great annoyance. It occupied me a full hour daily to pick 

 them ofi' my flesh after my diurnal ramble." 



Mr. Belt, in his interesting work on Central America, 

 discusses ticks thus : — -" No one who has not lived and moved 

 amongst the bush of the Tropics can appreciate what a torment 

 the different species of acarina or ticks are. On my first 

 journey in Northern Brazil I had my legs inflamed and ulcerated 

 from the ankles to knees, from the irritation produced by a 

 minute red tick that is brushed off the low shrubs and attaches 

 itself to the passer-by. (This is probably the bete rouge of these 

 Islands or some allied form. Ed.) .... Through all tropical 

 America during the dry season a brown tick, Ixodes bovis, vary- 

 ing in size from a pin's head to a pea, abounds. In Nicaragua 

 in April they are very small and swarm upon the plains, so that 



the traveller often gets covered with them They 



abound on all the large mammals and on many of the smaller 

 ones. Sick and weak animals are particularly affected by them 



and they must often hasten, if they do not cause 



their death. The herdsmen or " vacqueros " keep a ball of soft 

 wax at their houses which they rub over their skins when they 

 come from the plains, the small garrapatas sticking to it while 

 the larger ones are picked off." 



Further south in America, where vast herds of cattle are 

 driven over the great plains, a tick similar to our Gold tick 

 infests them. It has been repeatelly stated that in these regions 

 great numbers of cattle are annually destroyed by these pests, and 

 even that a scarcity of food is caused thereby. 



The following refers to a visit to one of the great cattle 

 estancias near Buenos Ayres. There were reported to be 25-50 

 cattle dying every day : the animals were in a fearful state of 

 emaciation : there were 50,000 head of cattle on the estancia : 

 there had been a recent drought : the kind was hard and the 

 grasses parched. It was noted that the garrapatos were associated 

 with the poverty of the animals on which they lived. The 

 natives ascribed their presence to the existence of long, coarse 

 grasses. 



