SCORPIONS, SPIDERS, MITES AND TICKS 211 



host appears, but as they are able to live for a remarkably long 

 time without taking food their patience is often rewarded and 

 the long fast ended. Those species which drop to the ground 

 to molt must again climb to some favorable point and wait 

 for another host on which they may feed for awhile. Then 

 they drop to the ground for a second molt and if they are 

 successful in gaining a new host for the third time they feed and 

 develop until fully mature and the female is ready to lay her eggs. 



FIG. 97. Amblyomma variegatum; several ticks belonging to the genus 

 Amblyomma transmit various diseases of domestic animals. (Magnified 

 about six times.) 



The presence of even a few ticks on an animal is always a 

 source of annoyance and they often occur in such numbers as 

 to affect seriously some of our domestic animals. Chickens, 

 dogs, horses and cattle, all have their particular kinds of ticks, 

 some of which commonly attack man when the opportunity 

 offers. The bites of ticks often cause great pain. Sickness 

 and death sometimes follows the bite of some certain species, 

 but this probably only under exceptional conditions or when the 



