86 Biology 



fever, extreme lassitude, disinclination to work, yawning, fever, per- 

 spiration, not accompanied by much thirst, increasing and decreasing at 

 stated hours in the day," so that many think it is only malaria acquired 

 during a short stay at Miana. Schlimmer does not share in this opinion, 

 and denies that the natives are subject to malaria. He says that 

 fatigued travellers, and those who have undergone privations, are 

 especially susceptible. A. persicus is also found at Chahroude and 

 Bestham on the main road from Teheran to Khoragan. No malaria 

 exists in these parts, but the effects of the Argas bite are the same as 

 at Miana. Schlimmer relates that he once (1858) treated 400 soldiers 

 who claimed to have been bitten by these parasites at Miana, but many 

 were unable to state on what part of their body they had been bitten. 

 The soldiers suffered from the symptoms above described, and were 

 promptly cured by the aid of " la poudre minerale de Bondin," or, when 

 the cases were refractory, by the administration of quinine. Bordier 

 (1882), who reprints the part of Schlimmer's publication from which 

 the above data are quoted, inclines towards the supposition that the 

 effects of the Argas bite are due to a poison, and, referring to the 

 reported immunity of the natives, says that this reminds him of the 

 fact that in many countries it is the strangers who are especially 

 attacked by mosquitoes, the natives having apparently acquired a 

 resistance towards the poison of these insects. Megnin (1882, p. 305) 

 denies the statement generally made by medical zoologists that the 

 bite of A. persicus is dangerous. He refers to a letter of Tholozan's to 

 Laboulbene (1881) which says that it is the belief among the common 

 people in Persia that the bite of Argas is dangerous and fatal to 

 foreigners, intermittent and remittent fevers being attributed to it. 

 Fumouze repeatedly placed a female Argas on a rabbit's ear from which 

 it sucked blood, but no pathogenic effects followed. Laboulbene and 

 Megnin (1882, p. 338) made a similar observation. Brandes (1897), in 

 view of his experience with A. reflexus cited later, considers that the 

 effects of the bite are due to a poison. Lounsbury (1900) at Cape 

 Colony, allowed himself and Davidson to be bitten by A. persicus, the 

 experiment gave rise to no further symptoms than a slight itching at 

 the seat of the bite; the latter healed within 10 days in Davidson's 

 case and in 3 weeks in Lounsbury 's. There may well be some exag- 

 geration in earlier accounts regarding the effect of Argas bites, but 

 there is sufficient evidence to prove that they produce evil effects. It 

 has not been demonstrated that persicus conveys any infectious disease 

 to man as has been proved in the case of fowls. 



