368 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Oct., '13 



of annulatns proper and prove to yield to the same eradicative 

 measures as are being employed against that tick. A change 

 in form of the females of the Australian cattle tick when bred 

 for several generations in the United States has been reported 

 by Salmon and Stiles.* The male characters, however, did not 

 appear to be modified. Tests were not made to determine if 

 modifications in the host habits occurred. Should this habit 

 of feeding on a large number of hosts persist, the methods of 

 eradicating the North American cattle tick would be much less 

 efifective against this form if it becomes established in this 

 country. There is little doubt that eradication of M. annula- 

 tus australis could be accomplished comparatively easily now 

 that it is probably confined to Key West, and this question 

 should be given serious consideration. 



The brown dog-tick, Rhipiccphahis sanguineus Latr., has 

 been found commonly in extreme southern Texas, but until 

 recent collections were made in Key West. Florida, by Mr. 

 G. A. Runner, the species was not known to occur in other 

 parts of the United States. On February 8, 1912, Mr. Runner 

 took a nymph and several males and females on a dog in Key 

 West and on the same date and in the same city he found five 

 females (one-third engorged) on a donkey. This species is 

 wklely distributed in tropical and subtropical countries, and has 

 been recorded from a large number of hosts. In the United 

 States it was previously taken on the dog only. In Februarv 

 and March, 1912, Mr. G. N. Wolcott found this tick com- 

 monly on dogs in Santiago de las \^egas and Pinar del Rio. 

 Cuba. Specimens previously collected in Cuba were referred 

 by Prof. Neumann to R. bursa. It is probable that the infesta- 

 tion at Key West was introduced from Cuba or some of the 

 other West Indian Islands, in all of which the species occurs. 



This tick is often an important pest of dogs but seldom be- 

 comes injurious to other animals. It would probably breed in 

 all of the Gulf States, but is not likely to become a serious pest 

 here. 



"The cattle ticks (Ixodoidea) of the United States— Seventeenth 

 Ann. Rept., Bur. of Animal Ind., U. S. Dept. Agr. for 1900, pp. 432- 

 433, 1901. 



