36 NOTES ON THE CATTEE TICK. 



It is qiiite evident that this pecuhar formation is necessary 

 to assist the young tick in gaining access to its host, for after 

 my tick-infested camera experience, I spent the remainder of the 

 moining in examining the larval ticks forming colonies among 

 the grass, and I noticed that all the ticks in the cluster were 

 attached to one another by their four posterior legs, while the 

 anterior pair were continually wavering backwards and forwards 

 after the fashion of the antennae insects, and ever ready to attach 

 themselves to anything that might brush against them, while 

 the last segment of the foot being provided with hooked-lilve 

 claws, the slightest touch gives them a hold. 



The larval tick, having attached itself firmly to its host, 

 takes up a certain amount of nourishment, and then undergoes 

 its third moult, which usually takes place in about seven days. 

 If Ave examine the tick just Itefore its nymphial change under the 

 microscope an extra pair of legs can be seen through the skin 

 just behind the three pairs of legs, also a pair of stigmata, or 

 breathing organs, behind these again. The three first pairs of 

 legs and the head are withdrawn gradually from the external 

 skin, which now commences to split down the sides and round 

 the bottom end, and by the cond)ined force of the limbs this 

 outer skin is cast off. 



The fourth, or last, change is from the nymph or pupa to 

 the adult. As in the previous moult, the head and limbs are 

 Avithdrawn, and the skin splits laterally, and the tick in its adult 

 stage emerges without any appreciable modification of the diges- 

 tive, respiratory, or locomotory organs. The greatest change, 

 however, occurs in the reproductive organs, which have 

 developed internally during the nymphial stage ; both males and 

 females are now sexually mature, and are now provided with the 

 full complement of legs, a perfect digestive and respiratory 

 system, and sexual organs. 



At this stage the males and females differ but very little in 

 size ; the length of the body is about one-tenth of an inch, and 

 as a rule the males ai-e distinguished from the females l)y their 

 being much more active, and the bodies bi'ing smaller and more 

 rounded, and of a dark-brown colour ; while a conspicuous 

 feature is the absence of the head shield, and the presence of 



