Biology 103 



ORNITHODOROS TALAJE. 



Habitat, Effect of bite, etc. : Salle (1849, p. 342) and his companion, 

 Jules, were severely bitten by 0. talaje in May, 1847, at Casa Vieja de 

 Gastoya. They were awakened out of sound sleep by "atrocious itching 

 on the hands and face," and on lighting a candle found their hands were 

 " covered with blood and blotches like large bites of bugs." The mule- 

 teer said the bites were due to "talajas." The ticks infest old houses, 

 retreating into the crevices of the walls, which are built of bamboo and 

 covered with mortar. The talajas bite at night and disappear by 

 morning. Salle states "my hands and ears were much swollen, and I 

 suffered horribly " ; a fortnight elapsed before he recovered from the 

 effects. 0. talaje, according to Guerin-Meneville (1849), causes intoler- 

 able itching and pain by its bite. Megnin (1885) says its saliva may 

 be venomous like that of a mosquito or tarantula. This stands in 

 direct contradiction to his previously expressed views regarding A. 

 persicus (q.v.). 



ORNITHODOROS THOLOZANI. 



Effects of bite: Me'gnin (1882, and 1892, p. 66) claimed that the 

 bite of this tick is harmless. He allowed one which had starved 

 for years to bite his hand. It sucked itself full in about half an hour, 

 the pain produced being less than that of a leech. The only effect was 

 the formation of a violet ecchymosis 6 mm. in diameter about the bite. 

 As Johannessen (1885, p. 347) very properly remarks, one experiment by 

 Megnin (in France) with a tick which had been kept starving for years, 

 has no value as proving that its bite is innocuous under normal 

 conditions. 



ORNITHODOROS MEGNINI. 



The life history of this species has been recently studied by Hooker 

 (1908 a, pp. 40, 42, 45, 51) who placed bags over the ears of infested 

 cattle and safeguarded the bags by cords tied about the horns so as to 

 prevent their being displaced. The larvae, having gained entrance to 

 the ear of the host, attach themselves deep down in the folds of the skin 

 and gorge themselves. They moult upon the host after about 5 days 

 and the nymphs continue feeding sometimes for months. In one case 

 a nymph abandoned the host's ear 35 days after the larva had been 



