56 NORTH AMERICAN FEVER TICK AND OTHER SPECIES. 
~ 
We have taken this species in Texas from a goat, a raccoon, and 
a skunk. Neumann records it as taken in the United States from 
the otter, mink (Putorius vison), sheep (Texas), spermophile, domestic 
cat (Maine), fox (Colorado), weasel, porcupine, and marmot. 
a 
EUROPEAN CASTOR BEAN TICK. 
(Ixodes ricinus Linnzeus. ) 
From its general distribution throughout Europe this species has 
been called the European castor bean tick. 
Mr. Banks informs us that in this species the front tarsi are 
longer than in any other species of the genus found in the United 
States; that in structure it is very similar to J. scapularis, but the 
porose areas are larger and closer together and the scutum is more 
angulate on the sides than in that species. Neumann, in his list 
of hosts of the adult stage, includes sheep, goat, cattle, horse, stag, 
roebuck, dog, cat, fox, ferret, hedgehog, and man; the nymphs and 
larve having occasionally been found on lizards, birds, hares, rab- 
bits, squirrels, polecats, ferrets, hedgehogs, mules, bats, and mice. 
In the United States he lists it from Maryland, ‘‘ Carolina,” Florida, 
California, Kansas, and Texas, on Lepus sylvaticus, Felis pardalis, 
cattle, opossum, gray fox, panther, and wild cat. While we have 
expected to find it frequently in Texas, in but a single instance has 
it been taken. This was by Mr. F. C. Pratt, at Mountain Home, 
from a dog. In Louisiana Prof. H. A. Morgan reports it as found 
on mink in all its stages, but on cattle only in the adult stage. 
Although this is an old and widely distributed species, but little 
study has been made of its life history, that of E. G. Wheler, of 
England, in 1899, standing practically alone. His most valuable 
studies were made to determine the relation of the tick to ‘“‘louping 
ill’? of sheep, with which, in the light of present knowledge, it seems 
to have only an accidental connection.? The following is the sub- 
stance of Wheler’s observations made in England and published in 
1590; 
The aduit females are readily recognized before they become dis- 
tended by their deep-red bodies, dark-brown iegs, shield, and other 
points. The males are of a uniform dark brown. <A record of 2,050 
eggs from a single female is given, and a very interesting account of 
the remarkable process of oviposition. Larve, upon finding a host, 
attach, and remain for about 2 days, by which time they are distended, 
black, and globular. Fully distended larve received February 7 and 
kept in a bottle became hard, dry, and torpid, but on April 29, after 11 
weeks, were found to have changed into nymphs and resumed active 
habits. After molting the nymph takes up its position on the herb- 
age, just as the larve had done, for a chance of attachment to a host. 
@ Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. X, pt. 4. 
