The life history of this tick was studied by Smith 
(1945) in Massachusetts. He found that, in the eastern 
United States, larvae hatch in July and August; that 
many of them and some of the resultant nymphs feed 
in the fall and hibernate through the winter; that those 
larvae and nymphs that do not feed in the fall feed in 
the spring and eventually transform into adults; and 
that fall-produced or spring-produced adults must under- 
go hibernation through a winter before the final feeding, 
mating, and egg laying can take place. Smith did not 
find this tick on rabbits in January or February. The 
seasonal cycle of this tick may be similar to the cycle 
of the continental rabbit tick. 
The eastern rabbit tick is found to be fairly common 
on rabbits along the northeast Atlantic Coast. There, 
like the continental rabbit tick, it may occasionally 
attach to birds and sometimes, perhaps accidentally, 
to other mammals (Smith 1945). 
This tick proved to be rare in Lee County. In our 
study, it was found on three rabbits: adults and larvae 
on two cottontails caught on May 8, 1953, and adults 
on one cottontail caught on June 4, 1954. 
In the southern tip of Illinois, in 1934, Dr. Herbert 
H. Ross found nymphs and larvae active on rabbits as 
late as December 5. 
Ixodes sculptus Neumann; ground squirrel tick. — 
This tick is found primarily on ground squirrels and 
only incidentally on rabbits. It was recorded once in 
Illinois on rabbits from the central part of the state 
(Ecke 1948). We did not find it on rabbits in Lee County. 
FLEAS 
Cediopsylla simplex (Baker); common eastern rab- 
bit flea; figs. 8 and 9. — The common eastern rabbit 
flea is the second most numerous ectoparasite of cot- 
Fig. 8.—Cediopsylla simplex,common eastern rabbit flea, adult female. The presence of a heavy comb of toothlike spines 
below the eyes distinguishes this species from Odontopsyllus multispinosus. 
10 
