90 TICKS. 



and beast. Thej- hide among bushes and other low plants, 

 and holding themselves with some of their legs to blades of 

 tall grasses, perhaps overhanging a path, they stretch out 

 the other legs at full length to detect any animal that ma^^ 

 happen to pass that way and to which thej^ attach them- 

 selves. Once fastened they select a suitable spot to insert 

 their peculiar sucking-organs for the purpose of securing a 

 feast of blood. All ticks are parasitic, infesting chiefly mam- 

 mals and reptiles, but also birds. 



Their body is round or broadty oval, very flat, and pro- 

 tected by an exceedingly tough integument. When swollen 

 w^ith blood their legs, w^hich appeared very long in the hun- 

 gry creature, are now almost useless, and the tick in this 

 shape resembles very closely a castor-oil bean. When the 

 brute has reached its acme of happiness, fullness, it with- 

 draws the sucking-organs and drops to the ground. Fig. 55, 

 plate IX, shows ticks of various sizes just removed from a dog. 

 The mandibles (fig. 56) are covered with teeth and have 

 terminal hooks; their maxillae are small, not reaching beyond 

 the beak, but bear a peculiar organ called 

 ,^^^A^mhi the glossoid, which is also covered with 



V / hooks. Their slender, seven-jointed legs 



» have two claws, and those of the six- 



legged 3^oung mites, pads or suckers. These 

 Fiy iiiparts parasites crowd together in large numbers 



ofconniU)!! lick. Eu- ,..,.,, 



larged. Origina . whcu still young, clingmg lilvC the mature 

 ticks to the tips of leaves, with a number of their slender legs ex- 

 tended, and wait for "something to turn up." When they 

 succeed in reaching a victim they insert their glossoids and 

 mandibles into the skin, to which they cling very firmly by 

 means of the numerous hooks. This operation causes con- 

 siderable irritation. If pulled out violently, these sucking- 

 organs and the head remain in the skin and cause bad sores. 

 To remove the entire animal, w^e have to apply oil; as soon 

 as the parasite is totiched wdth this substance it will with- 

 draw the imbedded proboscis. Animals upon which large 

 numbers of ticks are fastened can be relieved b^' means of 

 kerosene-emulsion . 



The eggs of the ticks are deposited in large masses dur- 



