A. persicus 85 



p. 1567), it is even stated that a specimen survived 24 hours' immersion 

 in spirit ! 



Seasonal Prevalence: Riley and Howard (1895, p. 267) state that 

 the plague of persicus continues through the winter in Texas, their 

 numbers being greatest in dry, hot years. Lounsbury (1903, pp. 9, 11) 

 found about Cape Town, that " a few specimens of all stages may be 

 found on almost any night in the year prowling about roosts in search 

 of hosts." Complaints of their ravages are, however, most frequent in 

 November and December. "This is undoubtedly because in these 

 months great numbers almost simultaneously take their first feed after 

 their long winter fast, and because of the brood of young ticks which 

 then appears." 



Effects of the bite of Argas persicus on man and animals 1 . 



Argas persicus has a rather formidable reputation in Persia. Dupre 

 (1819, pp. 323 — 324) seems to have been the first to write regarding it, 

 stating that its bite is at times dangerous, causing prolonged sickness ; 

 he speaks of it as a " teigne." Oken (1818, p. 1567) cites a letter from 

 v. Loder stating that the bite of persicus is fatal to man within 24 

 hours. He reports the case of an Englishman who kept a starved 

 specimen one year in a glass, and died 24 hours after he allowed it to 

 bite him. Kotzebue (1819, p. 180) says that it behaves like a bed-bug, 

 and may so infest villages as to drive out the inhabitants. The natives, 

 he relates, are comparatively immune, but foreigners suffer severe pain, 

 delirium and convulsions, and even death, within 24 hours in consequence 

 of its bite. Fischer de Waldheim (1823, pp. 269—273) also says that 

 the bite of this species may prove fatal owing to some complication. 

 Heller (1858), who examined their anatomy, denies that they have a 

 poison gland, and ascribes the effects to the mechanical injury (!) inflicted 

 by the parasite. Taschenberg (1873) thinks that the effects ascribed to 

 Argas persicus are really due to a fever which prevails in Miana (" dem 

 in Miana herrschenden Faulfieber "). Taschenberg (1874, p. 171 ) records 

 persicus as attacking man in Egypt as it does in Persia. Schlimmer 

 (1874), of Teheran, considers that the relative immunity of the natives 

 is acquired by their having been bitten at some time or other by the 

 Argas, and that such bites act like a preventive inoculation with vaccine 

 against smallpox. He says the symptoms are like those of " remittent 



1 The portions dealing with the effects of the bite of Argasidae is reprinted from 

 Nuttall (1899, pp. 42—49) with additions to date. 



