82 Biology 



appear as Adults: the female feeds more plentifully than the male 

 and increases in size, whereas the male may be mistaken for a second 

 nymphal form. Copulation was observed four times by Lounsbury, the 

 male inserting his mouthparts (not the palps) into the vulva — after the 

 manner observed in Ixodidae. 



Feeding: the adults feed about once a month in hot weather, at 

 longer intervals when it is cool. No feeding may take place during the 

 winter. Experimenting with adults, Lounsbury found that females 

 were ready to feed after each batch of eggs had been laid, remaining 

 practically stationary prior to oviposition. Batches of eggs were laid 

 after each meal. He liberated the hungry ticks in the bird cages at 

 night. Few eggs were laid after the fourth feeding and fewer still 

 after the fifth and sixth. It took about 10 months to raise one lot 

 of ticks from egg-stage to egg-stage, thus completing the life-history. 

 Although under natural conditions they appear to feed only at night 

 (the larvae excepted), nymphs and adults have fed readily upon fowls 

 and pigeons etc. in the Laboratory at Cambridge when protected 

 from strong light. Oken (1818) also notes that they occasionally 

 attack man during the day-time in Persia, they are not, therefore, 

 " strictly nocturnal " as stated by Riley and Howard (1895). Lounsbury 

 (1903, p. 7) is correct in stating that persicus is "always uneasy in 

 strong light, and tends to crawl away from it." When disturbed, they 

 often sham death, lying still with their legs retracted. 



The following observations were made by one of us (N.) in Cam- 

 bridge upon specimens received alive from India, S. Africa, Egypt and 

 N. and S. America : 



Larvae were placed on fowls in cages and observed from day to day. 



Experiment I. 20. iii. 1907 larvae placed on fowl, some attached themselves at 



once. 



23. „ „ larvae measure 1 mm. in length, appear as blueish 



black points, somewhat rounded, hanging by 

 capitulum, like Ixodidae. 



24. „ „ larvae measure over 1 mm., appear spherical, blackish. 

 25-26. „ „ an equal number dropped off each day (8 in all), they 



appeared blackish, but flattened l , with hood pro- 

 jecting quite over the capitulum ; measured 

 2 x l - 5mm. 



27. „ „ one gorged larva found in cage. 



13. v. 1907 Nymphs of first stage appeared. 



1 Hooker (1908 a, p. 39) states that the larvae are globular in shape up to within a few 

 hours of their abandoning the host. They then become flattened like the adult ticks which 



