SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 97 



closed glass jars in May. It was hoped that from them we would 

 get a quantity of eggs and rear a stock of ticks for future use. No 

 records were kept of the activities of these ticks. Several thousand 

 eggs were secured and watched for hatching. Some of the lots fail- 

 ed to hatch but one in particular hatched very satisfactorily on 

 July 4th, 5th and 6th, thus furnishing a good quantity of young 

 larval ticks. 



The young ticks were observed closel}- in the jars and on July 

 9th, about four days after hatching, a few were put on guinea pigs 

 in cages. On July nth more. larvae were put on the guinea pigs and 

 again on July 13th. Meantime it was observed that the ticks were 

 not attaching readily but were crawling about the cages and when 

 put back on the guinea pigs with camel's hair brushes would crawl 

 out to the tips of the hairs instead of inward to the skin and were 

 often shaken or brushed off. On July 17th several hundred ticks 

 were placed in each of four cages which contained each a single 

 guinea pig. 



The cages in which the guinea pigs were kept while the ticks 

 were feeding were made of a three-quarter-inch frame, covered on 

 the vertical and top sides with ordinary wire fly screening over which 

 ^vas placed one thickness of cotton cloth. A lid was hinged into the 

 top and held closed by a button. The cages were twelve inches 

 square and eight inches high. The bottom was covered with one- 



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JL -g. 1. Diagram of pan used under cages to prevent escape of ticks. 

 The troughs are kept filled with water. 



fourth-inch mesh galvanized sand screening. . This cage rests on 

 four screws in the corners which serve as posts. Under the cage 

 IS a shallow pan of galvanized iron to catch and retain the engorged 

 ticks as they drop. Around the edge of this pan is a trough filled 

 v/ith water to prevent the ticks from crossing. The accompanying 

 figures illustrate this cage and pan. 



A small quantity of excelsior was kept under the cage in the 

 middle of the pan to afford a means of climbing into the cage for the 

 unfed ticks that fell into the pan. The cotton cloth covering pre^ 



