4 Family Argasidae 



p. 485, used as a heading only to brief mention of A. erraticus = Ornithodoros 

 q.v. — Banks, 1904, p. 45, brief mention only. — Donitz, 1907, pp. 17, 24. — 

 Pocock, 1907, p. 189.— Nuttall, 1908, p. 389.— Banks, 1908, p. 14.— Tribe 

 Argasinae Neumann, 1892 b, p. 96. — Group Catastomata Marx, 1892, p. 233. 

 —Morgan, 1899, p. 136.— Subfam. Argasinis Railliet, 1893, p. 715. 



Genus 1. ARGAS 1 Latreille, 1796. 



Generic Characters. Body flattened, oval or rounded, with a 

 distinct flattened margin differing in structure from the general integu- 

 ment ; this margin gives the body a sharp edge which is not entirely 

 obliterated even when the tick is fully fed. Capitulum (in adults and 

 nymphs) entirely invisible dorsally, distant in adults by about its own 

 length from the anterior border. On both dorsum and venter there are 

 numerous symmetrically arranged discs 2 , generally round or oval, more 

 or less disposed in radial lines. Elsewhere the integument is minutely 

 wrinkled into irregular zig-zag folds. Eyes absent. 



Type species : Argas persicus 3 . 



Synonymy and Literature: Genus ARGAS Latreille, 1796 4 . 



Argas Latreille, 1796, p. 178, obs. specimen 8 mm. long, had seen specimens from 

 Tuscany (A. reflexus, doubtless) ; 1804, p. 53 : type, Aearus reflexus ; 1806, p. 155 ; 

 1829, p. 288 ; 1835, p. 512.— Leach, 1815. p. 397.— Risso, 1826, p. 182.— Heyden, 

 1826, p. 612.— Audouin, 1832, p. 413.— Sundvall, 1833.— Duges, 1834 a, p. 15 

 (included in the family Oamasei by this author) ; 1834 c, p. 31. — Gervais, 1844, 

 p. 229 ; 1847, p. 351.— Koch, 1844, p. 219 ; 1847, p. 12.— Gervais and van 

 Beneden, 1859, p. 455.— Gerstaecker, 1860, p. 464 ; 1863, p. 344.— Furstenberg, 

 1861, p. 208.— Moquin-Tandon, 1861, p. 304.— Verrill, 1870, p. 116.— Spicer, 

 W. W., 1874 a, p. 185.— Taschenberg, E. L., 1874.— Megnin, 1876, p. 288; 1880, 

 pp. 133, 320.— Conil, 1877, p. 27 ; 1878, p. 101.— Murray, 1877, p. 180.— 

 Canestrini and Fanzago, 1877, p. 193. — Kuchenmeister and Ziirn, 1879, p. 538 

 et seq.— Berlese, 1885, p. 131.— Ludwig, 1886, p. 612.— Railliet, 1886, p. 499 ; 



1 Often misspelt Argus, see Ant. Duges and Milne Edwards, pi. 27 ; Fullager, 1874 a ; 

 Francis, 1894, p. 452 ; Fuller, 1897, p. 590, etc. The derivation of " Argas " attributed to 

 the Greek apyi)s ( = white, glistening) by Spicer (1874 a, p. 185), who adds that being 

 eyeless, it can have nothing to do with him "of the hundred eyes." The numerous discs 

 on A. reflexus may well have been considered to represent "many eyes" by earlier 

 observers. We have never seen any specimens which conld be described as white or 

 glistening. The white incrustations dotting the backs of A. reflexus found at Canterbury 

 in 1874 (noted by Gulliver) appears to have been derived from the plaster in the walls, or 

 it may have been excrement. 



2 Scutella, foveolae, patellae, pits of other authors. 



* A. reflexus (Fabr.) has been the hitherto accepted type of the genus (vide Nn., 1896, 

 p. 2). We prefer to take persicus for our type because it is world-wide in its distribution 

 and commonly found, besides having been the better studied. 



* Literature given by Salmon and Stiles, 1901, p. 401, revised and with additions. 



