SOUTH AMERICAN " GARRAPATAS." 109; 



ground was hard, the grass parched up, and but little 

 for them to eat, and, like many other pests, these 

 Garrapatas appear associated with the poverty of the 

 animals they live upon. The origin of these pests I could 

 not gather correctly, but the natives told me that they 

 first come in the long coarse grasses so prevalent there, 

 and begin by attacking the legs of the cattle first, then 

 the shoulder, and afterwards all over, and, like the 

 Sheep Tick, are blood-suckers, but more tenacious than 

 the Tick, as the Garrapata has always his head or sucker 

 embedded firmly in the skin, and does not migrate 

 among the hair of the cattle like the tick in the wool of 

 the sheep. The Garrapata varies in size from the size 

 of a pea to that of a large bean, and is, in its natural 

 state, of a light greenish colour ; those sent you have 

 been that colour, but changed to their present colour 

 through the spirit they are in, and which is no criterion 

 of their natural state : it attacks horses, dogs, and even 

 men, and to release them is most difficult, as their 

 proboscis is left in if you attempt to pull them off, and 

 causes great irritation ; the native, alive to the conse- 

 quences, generally burns what is left exposed, i. e. the 

 body, with a hot cigarette or cigar, and this seems to 

 cause the Garrapata to relinquish its hold immediately. 

 " Our modus operandi has been to secure the animal 

 and pour a solution of our glycerine wash, in the pro- 

 portion of 1 part wash to 20 parts water, by means of a 

 watering tin (as shown in the illustration sent you), 

 when in less than five minutes all the Garrapatas have 

 been killed, the effect of our wash having an outward 

 destructive power upon them, as the solution simply 

 paralyses the parasite, it being of a strong carbolic 

 nature, and thus acts immediately upon the breathing- 

 pores of the Garrapata. To treat the animals thus 

 affected in South Africa we should urge the same 

 process, which is by no means an expensive one on a 

 large scale, where several hundreds or thousands of 

 animals have to be treated : of course in South America 

 the native uses the lassoo, and I have had as many as 



