316 Genus Ixodes 



% caused the vagina to be completely everted. After the £ had freed 

 himself he immediately attached himself to a second % . He rooted 

 around "like a pig" for 20 minutes before he succeeded in inserting his 

 mouthparts into the vulva. This second coupling lasted 10 minutes. 



Dr Hadwen only once detected a £ beneath a % upon a host 

 but the sexes were not coupled. He has only captured 8 or 9 Js 

 and believes that copulation takes place mainly off the hosts, mostly 

 in the squirrels' nests, "for the squirrels are infested with almost an 

 equal number of ticks the year round." 



Ixodes pilosus. 



Relation to Disease : According to C. W. Mally (ix. 1904), Cape of 

 Good Hope, the farmers around Carlisle Bridge have no doubt but that 

 this tick produces " paralysis " in sheep, especially in merinos. Cooper's 

 dip applied to " paralysis flocks " is stated to check the disease at once. 

 The tick is, however, frequently found on healthy sheep. 



Behaviour of £ and $ on the host : Mally states that the $ is sought 

 by the £. The % prefers to attach herself on sheep "around the 

 mouth, under the chin and throat, on the bare patches under the legs 

 and along the edges of the wool, in the wool on the legs, along the belly 

 and near the udder." The % appeared to be ready for the J 1 after being 

 attached to the host for two days, but females can wait indefinitely in 

 this situation whilst they are gradually becoming replete. After the 

 replete females dropped from the host they died readily on being sub- 

 jected to transportation. The Js are very scarce, and when not 

 attached to the $ are usually found wandering about. Males were 

 twice found attached to the skin. Coupling was observed to last from 

 3£ to 24 hours. 



Nymphs and Larvae were found engorged in the ears of sheep, but 

 they were scarce (Mally). 



Ixodes canisuga. 



In contrast to ricinus, the males of canisuga have never been 

 recorded as occurring upon the host. Whereas hundreds of females and 

 nymphs have reached us, we never received a male taken from an 

 animal. The only male which Mr E. G. Wheler ever saw came from a 

 dog-kennel at Gowanburn, on the North Tyne, and all the males we 

 otherwise possess have come from the nests of the sand-rnartiu or bank- 



