A. persicus 



83 



Experiment II. 4. iv. 1907 larvae placed on fowl. 



9. iv. 1907 larvae (29) found gorged. 



10. iv. 1907 larvae (17) found gorged. 



2. vi. 1907 Nymphs of first stage appeared. 



The larvae in both experiments remained attached 5 — 6 days and 

 first-stage nymphs issued after a further interval of 48 to 53 days, the 

 ticks being kept at about 20° C. 



First Stage Nymphs feed rapidly ; thus 14 specimens were observed 

 to drop off gorged within 35 minutes. Second Stage Nymphs were on 

 one occasion observed to cast their skins 15 days after feeding, having 

 been kept at 24° C. 



Second Stage Nymphs and Adults appear to feed still more rapidly, 

 but at times the process of feeding may be much prolonged, especially 

 if the ticks have grown feeble or been starved too long. Where they 

 gorge rapidly (in 5 — 10 minutes), they often discharge clear fluid from 

 the 1st inter-coxal space, as observed in Ornithodoros moubata, 0. savignyi, 

 etc. The following table contains a record of the time consumed in 

 feeding by all the ticks experimented with : 



103 



in 



22< 



4 fed in 50 minutes 



From the foregoing, it appears that § of the ticks fed in half-an-hour 

 or under. 



It was noted that 



2 fed for 95 minutes, after starving 4 months 



1 „ 90 „ „ „ over 5- 



-1 »j 8*5 ,, ,, ,, 10 ,, 



permits them to "crawl rapidly and to secrete themselves in cracks and crevices protected 

 from the wily fowl." The replete larvae usually drop at night when the fowls are roosting, 

 consequently when they emerge as nymphs they have no difficulty in rinding birds upon 

 which to feed. 



6—2 



