1893.] MB,. \. B. illCELUlL OS THE GEyUS IXODES. 177 



beard is short, but the hair on the head and between the horus is 

 thick. There are in the Museum, besides the perfect animal, two 

 imperfect skulls ; in cue of them the whole forehead and con- 

 spicuous frontal bones are missing, and in the other the lower 

 jaw is absent. In the beginning of 1873 a Bison-calf was sent 

 alive from the Caucasus to the Zoological Garden at Moscow, but 

 it soon died. There are also reports of other cases of the capture 

 of Bisons, upon which I can give you no certain particulars ; 

 but I have heard that the celebrated hunter Mr. St. George 

 Littledale killed a Bisoia in 1887 whilst on a hunting expedition, 

 in summer, in the above mentioued-district, in piu'suit of Ckipra 



February 28, 1893. 



Sii- William H. Flower, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., Presideut, in 



the Chair. 



3Ir. A. i). Michael, F.Z.S., exhibited specimens of a Tick of the 

 genus Ixodes, known locally as the " St. Kitt's " or " Gold Tick," 

 received from ]\Ir. C. A. Barber, of the Agricultural Department, 

 Antigua. These Ticks had become a serious pest in the Leeward 

 Islands, and there was a tradition there that they had been intro- 

 duced about 30 years ago from St. Kitt's along with some Senegal 

 Cattle. They were unknown in the Leeward Islands up to that 

 date, and were now unknown in St. Kitt's. The specunens had 

 been forwarded to Mr. Michael in order to ascertain whether the 

 species could be identified, and, if so, whether there was any reason 

 to suppose that it was of African origin. Mr. Michael observed 

 that this species was a very well-marked and unmistakable one, 

 described in 1814 by C. L. Koch, of Regeusburg, from a male speci- 

 men received from Senegal. Koch had named it AinhJijoiama 

 venustum, stating that it was one of the most beautiful of all 

 the Ticks. According to modern classification it would be called 

 Uyalomma venustum. 



An adult female which Mr. Barber had kept in confinement had 

 laid over 20,000 eggs, most of which were hatched : and Prof. 

 Leidy, in America, had found that adult female Ticks sometunes 

 weighed more than a hundred times as much when fully fed than 

 when fasting:. 



-■o* 



The following extract from a letter from M. A. Milne-Edwards, 

 F.M.Z.S., to Mr. Sclater, dated Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 

 Feb. 18, 1893, was read :— 



" Vous avez decrit en 1880 -, sous le nom de Lemur tiu/errimus, 



' [Two line specimcus (c? and $) of the Caucasian Bison, presented by Mr. 

 Littledale, are to be se«n mounted in the gallery of the British Museum.— Ed.] 



" [See P. Z. S. 1880, p. 451. The specimen in question, purchased Nov. 5, 

 1878, died June 18, 1882. A similar specimen, received Oct. 16, 1883, died 

 April 4, 1885. Both specimens were sent to M. Milne-Edwards for exami- 

 nation. — Ed.] 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1893, No. XII. 12 



