INSECTS AFFECTING MAN AND ANIMALS 209 



poultry, and is often known as the Itch Mite. This is a 

 much smaller species, which burrows beneath the skin and 

 causes scales as does the sheep scab mite (p. 203). Under 

 these scales the mites live and multiply. 



Wash the legs of affected fowls with warm soapsuds for 

 twenty minutes so as to soften the scales so that they may 

 be gently rubbed off without bleeding. Then apply lard 

 and kerosene, sulphur ointment, or an ointment made of 

 naphthalene crystals (moth balls), powdered and mixed 

 with nine parts of lard. An application of coal tar to the 

 scales on the legs has caused them to drop off without bleed- 

 ing and seems to be effective. Blue ointment has also 

 been used as described for hen lice (p. 206), with excellent 

 effect. 



127. The Cattle Tick.* The cattle tick (22) is best 

 known as being the carrier of Texas or tick fever. This 

 disease is the most serious obstacle to the cattle industry in 

 the South and, therefore, to a better general agriculture. 

 The U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry (22) states "that the 

 Texas-fever tick is responsible for about $40,000,000 of loss 

 annually to the people of the infested country, and that it 

 lowers the assets of the South by an additional $23,500,000." 

 It is confined to the Southern States, and as shown in 

 Fig. 150, its range has been materially restricted by an 

 active campaign carried on by the Federal and State Gov- 

 ernments for its eradication. 



The fully grown adult ticks may be a half inch long and 

 are oval in shape. The head is much smaller than that of 

 other ticks found on cattle, and is reddish-brown or chest- 

 nut in color. The body color varies from dull yellow to an 

 olive brown; often being mottled with yellow or brown or 

 streaked with wavy lines of these colors. There is a groove 



* Margaropus annulatus Say. Class Arachnida, see page 21. 



