94 Biology 



three of them, which had been crushed, subcutaneously into a dog, 

 produced symptoms of intoxication in the latter which were similar to 

 those which are produced by small quantities of snake ("Puffotter") 

 venom. 



Terrenzi (1893, pp. 73 — 76) observed the effects of the bite on 

 the hand as follows: After a few hours a yellowish vesicle appeared, 

 and lymphangitis extended up the forearm, the course of the lymphatics 

 appearing red and feeling hard and the skin rough (scabrosa); when 

 morning had arrived the vesicle had grown five times in size and the 

 lymphangitis worse, and the arm discoloured. The effects diminished 

 and disappeared in 15 days, but a scar was visible a long time after. 

 Gibert (1896, cited by Mosler and Peiper, 1904, p. 345) observed 

 general symptoms follow the bite: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, irregular 

 pulse, dyspnoea, etc. Ajutolo (1898) states it tormented persons in 

 Bologna, and refers to it as "this terrible destroyer of poor pigeons." 



Argas reflexus in Relation to Disease. 



Until quite recently there has been no evidence to prove that 

 reflexus is capable of conveying disease. Schellack (1908, p. 487) 

 however, reports upon two experiments which he carried out with 

 A. reflexus and Spirochaeta marchouxi. Experiment I: 4 reflexus 

 were placed on a fowl with spirochaetes in its blood, and 7 days 

 later they were placed on a clean fowl. Spirochaetes appeared in this 

 fowl's blood after 16 days and it died of the disease. Experiment II : 

 6 infected reflexus were allowed to bite a clean fowl ; the bird showed 

 spirochaetes on the 8th day and it recovered ; the ticks had fed on a 

 sick fowl about 64 days before. It is interesting to note, therefore, 

 that Sp. marchouxi may be transmitted by two species of Argas 

 (jpersicus and reflexus) as well as by Ornithodoros moubata (q.v.). 



That this tick may transmit other pathogenic micro-organisms is 

 indicated by the following instance reported by Tonnel (1906, p. 552): 

 A family moved into an apartment which had remained unused for four 

 years having been previously occupied by a man who kept fowls and 

 pigeons in the rooms. The father of the family had suffered from 

 general furunculosis before moving into the dwelling. He was bitten 

 by reflexus and so were his two children, who in consequence also 

 developed abscesses and phlegmons starting at the points bitten by the 

 ticks. The family moved out of the apartment because they considered 

 it bug-infested (they took reflexus for bed-bugs), after which the trouble 

 subsided. Within 48 hours another family moved into the apartment, 



