INSECT ENEMIES OF LIVE STOCK 169 



have been slathered that cattle form the normal hosts of 



& 



Maryaropus annulatus, but horses, mules, deer, and some- 

 times even sheep and buffaloes, act as hosts, and, of these, 

 besides cattle, only deer and buffalo are susceptible to red 

 water. They all suffer from the ticks as simple parasites, 

 capable of withdrawing a large amount of blood it has 

 been estimated that a beast may lose from 200 Ibs. to 500 Ibs. 

 of blood in one season, but as transmitters of disease the 

 ticks are harmless as far as horses, etc., are concerned. 



The adult male tick is brown in colour and about one- 

 tenth of an inch long ; the female is slightly larger, and of 

 an olive-green shade. At the time the female is ready to 

 lay her eggs she has increased enormously in size, because 

 of the blood she has imbibed, being then about half an 

 inch long and very plump. When fully engorged, she leaves 

 the host and drops to the ground, for only part of the 

 development takes place on the host, the other period being 

 spent on grass, etc. Immediately on reaching the ground, 

 a hiding place is found for egg-laying, where the earth is 

 inoist, beneath leaves or some other protection against the 

 sun and unfavourable weather conditions. Too high or too 

 low a temperature, alike, are fatal to the eggs ; absence or 

 excess of moisture must also be guarded against ; enemies, 

 too, in the shape of ants and birds, are less likely to dis- 

 cover the eggs beneath some protective covering. Ovi- 

 position usually begins from two to twenty days after the 

 female tick has reached the ground, though, in winter, the 

 period may be protracted to ninety-eight days. 



Each mother tick lays from one hundred to five thousand 

 small, elliptical, light-amber-coloured eggs, and, in doing so, 

 shrinks to about a quarter her original size. These ticks 

 are very prolific, and it is estimated that, under favourable 

 circumstances, the descendants of a single male and female 

 tick, hatched in April, will number 6,750,000,000 individuals 

 by the middle of October in the same year. The above- 

 mentioned favourable circumstances are, for the most part, 



