THE CATTLE TICK CAN BE DESTROYED 



The Female Tick and Its Eggs 



One tick is capable of lay- 

 ing 4,000 eggs. The period 

 of depositing eggs lasts about 

 one week. The eggs hatch in 

 about three weeks in summer; 

 in fall and winter they lay 

 dormant. Each egg is capable 

 of furnishing one seed tick 



When fully engorged she drops to the ground, and at once, espe- 

 cially if the weather is warm, begins to search for a hiding place on 

 moist earth beneath leaves or any other litter which may serve as a 



protection from the sun and numerous enemies. 

 The female tick may be devoured by birds or 

 destroyed by ants, or may perish as the result of 

 unfavorable conditions, such as low temperature, 

 absence or excess of moLsture, and many other 

 conditions: so that many which fall to the ground 

 are destroyed before they lay eggs. 



Egg laying begins during the spring, summer, 

 and fall months in from two to twenty days, and 

 during the winter months in thirteen to ninety- 

 eight days. The eggs are small, elliptical-shaped 

 bodies, at first of a light amber color, later 

 changing to a dark brown, and are about one- 

 fiftieth of an inch in length. As the eggs are 

 laid they are coated with a sticky secretion which 

 causes them to adhere in clusters and. no doubt, 

 serves the purpose of keeping them from drying 

 out. During egg laying the mother tick gradu- 

 ally shrinks in size and finally is reduced to 



about one-third or one-fourth her original size. Egg laying is greatly 



influenced by temperature, being retarded or even arrested by low 



temperatures. It is completed in from four days in the summer to 



one hundred and fifty-one days, beginning in the fall. During this 



time the tick may deposit from a few hundred to more than 5.000 eggs. 



After egg laying is completed the mother tick has fulfilled her purpose 



and dies in the course of a few days. 

 After a time, ranging from nineteen 



days in the summer to one hundred 



and eight}--eight days during the fall 



and winter, the eggs begin to hatch. 



From each egg issues a small, oval, 



six-legged larva or seed tick, at first 



amber colored, later changing to a rich 



brown. The seed tick, after crawling 



slowly over and about the shell from 



which it has emerged, usually remains 



more or less quiescent for several days, 



after which it shows great activity. 



especially if the weather is warm, and 



ascends the nearest vegetation, such 



as grass, other herbs, and even shrubs. 



Since each female lays an enormous mass of eggs at one spot, thou- 

 sands of larva will appear in the course of time at the same place and 



will ascend the near-by vegetation and collect on the leaves. This 



Seed Tick 



After emerging from the eggs it crowds upon 

 spears of grass, and as soon as possible attaches 

 itself to a passing cow. If no cattle give it 

 succor it will die of starvation in about four 

 months during the summer; but in winter it 

 remains dormant; therefore it ic possible for it 

 to live in a pasture or field several months 



