FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 229 



One frequently hears of scraping the cattle by means of a 

 blunt knife, and thus removing the ticks. But to what pain and 

 danger does this expose the animal ! The bodies of the ticks 

 will assuredly be removed, but what of the deeply sunk and 

 invisible mouth parts 2 Even if the creatures were willing it 

 would be impossible for them to withdraw the buried parts in 

 time. It is asserted by those who have studied the subject that 

 the mouth parts of the ticks if left in a wound exert an influence 

 altogether disproportionate to the simple mechanical irritation. 

 There is, according to these observers, something very like a 

 poisonous reaction upon the animal. Forcible removal of ticks 

 seems then rather to court skin diseases than to be a wise method 

 of protection of the animals. 



The question has again and again been broached as to 

 whether ticks are capable of their own free will of detaching 

 themselves from their host, some asserting that so firmly is the 

 barbed proboscis fixed and anchored to the animal's flesh that it 

 would be an impossibility to withdraw it unbroken. The 

 consensus of opinion among those who have made the life of the 

 tick their special study is however that the parasite can volun- 

 tarily let go its hold. Certain it is that the egg-laying of the 

 female does not usually take place upon the host, while it is not 

 uncommon to meet the males roaming about in pla.ces where 

 cattle are used to congregate. The males are provided with an 

 apparatus as formiable as that of the female, and yet it is every- 

 where agreed that he passes fron one place to another with 

 impunity. 



It is thus a matter of importance to apply if possible 

 substances so offensive to the tick that it will voluntarily shift its 

 quarters. 



We should avoid the use of external caustic applications 

 upon the body of the tick ; we should avoid such mechanical 

 injury as cutting the body of the tick with scissors ; for the 

 observed effect of such brutal methods is the deeper thrusting 

 of the parasite's proboscis, with a wince of pain from the 

 unfortunate host. 



Finally, the danger of leaving open bleeding wounds upon 

 the animal's skin is obvious. Such spots, unless in very healthy 

 animals, are of necessity the points of attack of various disorders. 

 To quote one instance, in a report on "The Texas Screw-worm,'' 

 issued by the Louisiana State Experiment Station, it is pointed 

 out that the great majority of cases of animals at tucked by this 

 plague resulted from the deposition of eggs in the vicinity of 

 where ticks hud been killed, the flies being a1 tract ed by theblocd. 

 In an island where a t roublesome skin disease appears at intervals, 

 as in Antigua, special note; should be taken of facts like these 



