304 Genus Ixodes 



May to October. He noted that the vulva appeared open in some 

 females, whilst in others it appeared closed "as by a hymen," these 

 being presumably virgins. He placed males with the latter and 

 observed them enter into copulation. On turning the males over he 

 saw that nought but the mouthparts had penetrated the vulva. He 

 states that he actually saw three males coupling at once with one 

 female : " fatto del quale non trovasi altri esempio negli annali della 

 scienza 1 ." Gen6 (p. 774), on closely observing coupling males, several 

 times saw " two fusiform bodies, turgid and pearly white, protruding 

 one on the right the other on the left of the median line close to the 

 hypostome." When the male was disturbed these organs collapsed and 

 were retracted into the interior of the mouthparts ; they could be clearly 

 seen when they were slowly retracted. He concluded that these must 

 be fecundating organs, but could not explain their mechanism. (We 

 shall see that Lewis has also observed these organs.) C. L. Koch 

 (1835-1844, p. 218) also expressed the belief that the male copulating 

 organs are situated in the mouthparts. 



Von Siebold's (1850) statement that two fine ducts lead forward from 

 the testes to the mouthparts of the male has never been confirmed. 

 Pagenstecher (1861, p. 38), who described the male sexual organs, 

 believed that the seminal fluid escapes from the male genital orifice 

 when the sexes are apposed venter to venter, the genital orifices being 

 approximated in some way for the purpose. Megnin (1878, p. xcii) 

 affirms that the males possess a penis (!) which is directed toward the 

 vulva by the male mouthparts. Claus (1876, p. 574 and 1880, p. 652) 

 wrongly states that the male capitulum is bent backward when coupling 

 takes place, the reverse being the case. Bertkau (1881, p. 147) observed 

 coupling, and he states that he found spermatozoa in all the females 

 which had coupled under natural conditions or in captivity. Most of 

 the females, on the other hand, which were found in a free state were 

 found not to be fertilized. Bertkau holds that coupling constitutes 

 copulation but does not explain how this can be the case. Wheler 

 (1899, p. 7) states that he observed two pairs couple in a bottle after 

 they had been captured on rushes. He also saw a male coupling with 

 a gorged female after the specimens had been taken from a deer. He 

 adds (xii. 1899) that coupling takes place between unfed adults and 

 between replete females and males either upon the host or otherwise. 

 He considered that the female became impregnated through the male 



1 No subsequent author records any similar observations ; two of the males were, 

 perhaps, only " crowding" the third. (See PI. VII, p. 310.) 



