IXODIC AN:a<:JIIA— TEXAS FEVEK, ETC. 42a 



after the hot summer weather — mild attacks of the disease. 

 The blood of apparently healthy Southern cattle will serve the 

 same purpose. 



Exposure to ticks during the cool autumn months is also 

 recommended, being simpler, requiring no operation, the ticks 

 being easily procurable from the permanently infected Southern 

 territory. 



In concluding their observations upon these methods of pro- 

 tection, the reporters say that their statements concerning the 

 possible uses of mild infections as a means of subsequent pro- 

 tection must be regarded as mere suggestions, which may or may 

 not prove of practical utility on a large scale. 



The Tick — Ixodes iovis (Eiley). — This parasite was first 

 described by Professor C. V. Eiley in 1868 as a reddish, cori- 

 aceous, flattened species, with body oblong-oval, contracted behind 

 the middle, and with two longitudinal impressions above this 

 contraction and three below it, more especially visible in the 

 dried specimens. Head short and broad, not spined behind, with 

 two deep round pits. Palpi and beak together unusually short, 

 the palpi being slender. Labium short and broad, densely 

 spined beneath. Mandibles smooth above, with terminal hooks. 

 Thoracic shield distinct, one-third longer than wide, smooth and 

 polished ; coxae not spined. Length of body 0"15 of an inch ; 

 width 0'09 of an inch. Further oliservations have made it clear 

 that the above description probably applies to the adult male 

 only, the colour of the females being olive brown on the back and 

 slate-coloured on the belly. Dr. Cooper Curtice has shown that 

 in the earlier or larval stage the young tick has three pairs of 

 legs ; after another week's sojourn on a calf (kept in an artifi- 

 cially heated stable, the season being advanced — November 

 15th) it was ready to moult. The emerging nymphal stage was 

 provided with an additional pair of legs ; after another week on 

 the calf the tick was -ready to moult again, and became sexually 

 mature. It is thus shown that in this particular species of tick 

 there are two periods of moulting before the parasite becomes 

 mature. Curtice likewise created for it a new genus — Boophilus. 

 It is classified by Dr. George ]\Iarx — {Journ. Covip. Medicine and 

 Vcterinanj Arehivcs, July 18S1 and January 1892) — as follows : 

 — Class, Arachnida — Order, Acari ; Sub-order, Cynor-Cyno- 

 htesta ; Family, Pihipistornidte ; Genus, Boophilus ; Species, bovis. 



A full-grown tick is said to lay on an average about 2100 



