41 



had applied the kainit. He could not see any reason for considering 

 kainit an insecticide. He had tried it for white grubs, strawberry 

 root borers, rose beetles, and wire worms and could not see that it had 

 any effect upon any of them. If it killed one single individual he was 

 not able to see it. 



j\li'. Louns])ury said he thought there was a great deal to be said 

 against kainit and a good deal to l)e said in its favor. Perhaps weather 

 conditions immediately following the application may have something 

 to do with its efficacy. For instance, a rainfall might add to its insect- 

 icidal value. 



Mr. Webster stated that he had taken particular pains to apply 

 water to carry the kainit down, but without effect. 



Mr. Louns])ury presented the following paper: 



NOTES ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN TICKS. 



By C. P. LouNfsUL'KY, (Jape Tou.h, Suiifli Afriat. 



The purpose of these notes is to present bi'iefly the more important 

 of a number of observations made in recent studies on the habits and 

 associations of several species of South African ticks. The notes are 

 made from memor}^ and, lest errors should creep in, detailed particu- 

 lars are not attempted. The primary object of the studies was strictly 

 economic, it being to obtain data that would assist in determining the 

 courses best adapted for the suppression of the ticks. Some of the 

 species have long been a deterrent to stock farming in certain parts of 

 the Cape Colony, and of late years have increased to an extent that 

 threatens the progress of the cattle industries in several districts. 

 There had been, moreover, a suspicion of long standing in the country 

 that one, at least, of the species was in some way associated with a 

 generally fatal sheep and goat disease known as ''heartwater.'' This 

 disease during the last half century has gradually become extended 

 over a tract of country in the southeast of the colony which was once 

 capable of supporting several millions of sheep. The fowl tick con- 

 sidered is a poultry pest conunon to many warm-temperate and sub- 

 tropical lands. It is the ^[/y(/.'< (niieiw'ranns^ of the Southern United 

 States. 



THE BONT TICK. 



The tick of greatest importance, because of its injuries to stock, is 

 Amllyomvia hehrceum Koch, commonly known as the bont tick. 

 '•'"Bont"" is a Dutch word, equivalent to ''variegated,"" and its applica- 

 tion in this case has reference to the mixed coloring on the l)ack of 

 the male. The bont tick is supposed to have spread into Cape Colony 

 from the eastward between sixty and seventy-tive }'ears ago, and it is 

 still restricted to southeastern districts — the same districts in which 

 the heartwater disease occurs. It is the largest of South African 



