ORNITHODORUS: BREEDING TECHNIQUE 639 



caught and transferred to small cloth bags, which are securely fastened 

 with a purse string and then hung up in a dark place ; the cloth of which 

 the bag is made should be strong or the bat may bite a hole through it 

 and escape. The larvae of A. vespertilionis, which are always attached 

 to the wing membrane, drop off during the day ; they should be collected 

 and placed on crumpled filter paper in a small specimen tube, which is 

 then kept in the dark. The bat must be fed on milk, which it will 

 readily suck up from a piece of cotton wool. After all the larvae have 

 dropped off the bat may be liberated, as it will not survive long enough 

 in captivity to be of further use, and others can be obtained from the 

 same resting place. The nymphs and adults may be fed by placing them 

 in the bag with the bat. 



Ornithodorus savignyi and O. moubata are much alike in their feeding 

 habits ; their larvae never suck blood, but remain in a dormant condition 



until the first moult takes place. In captivity both 



11 r j i i A u c Genus Ornithodorus: 



species will feed on almost any animal. A number or . . . 



males and females having been procured they should 

 be placed in a large earthenware tray containing some fine sand, in which 

 they soon bury themselves. It is useful to know that both savignyi and 

 moubata travel well by post if they are placed with some sand in a small 

 tin, the lid of which is perforated with small holes. All the stages 

 can be easily fed on calves. A small area of the skin on one flank 

 is shaved and the animal thrown on the ground and held firmly down ; 

 the ticks are then picked up between the fingers and placed on the skin. 

 If they are ready to feed they will do so in a short time, filling up with 

 blood in from fifteen to thirty minutes. It will be noticed that they be- 

 come surrounded by a clear fluid, which comes from their Malpighian 

 tubes and coxal glands. It is believed that ticks infected with spiro- 

 chaetes contaminate the wound with some stage of the organism which 

 lives in the excretion of the Malpighian tubes ; this, however, is doubtful, 

 and more recent observations tend to show that this is not the route 

 by which the spirochaete gains access to its vertebrate host. If a 

 calf is not available the ticks can be just as easily fed on a dog, 

 rabbit or a guinea pig ; they seem to thrive on the blood of any of 

 these animals. 



Moubata is a domestic tick, and it may be collected in large numbers 

 from the dust from the floors of native huts in those parts of Africa and 

 Madagascar where it is prevalent; it is commonly Ornlthodoru8 moubata 

 found in the bed mats used by the natives and may in 

 this way be carried long distances to fresh localities. It can be reared 



