Biology of I. putus 317 



swallow. Mr Wheler kindly informs us that canisuga swarms on collie 

 dogs throughout the North Tyne district and probably throughout the 

 borderland, and adds: "This is partly accounted for by the fact that 

 the dog-kennel is one of the chief features of a hill farm, and the dogs 

 all lie together, and there is every opportunity for the ticks to multiply." 

 Mr Wheler was the first to observe copulation in this species, to which 

 he provisionally gave the name of 7. plumbeus ? in 1899. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. R. F. L. Burton, of Longner Hall, 

 Shrewsbury, who kindly supplied me with many living specimens 

 (including some 16 males), I was able to observe that copulation took 

 place readily in captivity and that it occurred as in ricinus. The males 

 sought the females, the latter being both unfed and in various stages of 

 repletion. It is obvious that collectors desiring to obtain males will 

 have to search the habitats of the hosts if they wish to secure them. 



Wheler (xn. 1899) kept the unfed larvae of this species alive for 

 ten months (9. x. 1898-vin. 1899), after they had hatched out from 

 eggs laid 4. vm. 1898. The larvae were confined in a bottle containing 

 moss and damp sand. 



Ixodes putus. 



This species, whilst apparently confined to marine birds as hosts, is 

 known to occasionally attack man and inflict painful bites. The males 

 have never been found upon the host, and the almost unarmed hypo- 

 stome of the male indicates that it may perhaps not suck blood, behaving 

 similarly to Ornithodorus mignini in this respect. The males have only 

 been found in the nests of the birds or in their vicinity. Copulation in 

 this species has been observed both by Wheler (1906, p. 425) and 

 Hewitt; it takes place as in ricinus. I am indebted to Mr Wheler for 

 allowing me to see a letter from Mr W. Hewitt regarding the latter's 

 observations on putus in June-July, 1902. He found the ticks plenti- 

 fully on the cliffs at Bempton and Bucktou, in Yorkshire. He found 

 two or three pairs in copula beneath stones, and once saw a male in 

 copula, whilst four or five near by were seeking to copulate ; this on a 

 narrow ledge of cliff 320-400 feet high, facing the sea, and frequented 

 during the nesting season by tens of thousands of birds (guillemots, 

 razorbills, puffins, jackdaws, with a few herring-gulls and kittiwakes). 



