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PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF 

 ARGAS BRUMPTI, NEUMANN. 



By Harold H. King, F.L.S., F.E.S. 



{Government Entomologist, Anglo- Egyptian Sudan ; Wellcome Tropical 

 Research Laboratories, Khartoum.) 



Although it is now some eight years since Neumann described Argas hrumpti from 

 specimens collected by Dr. Brumpt in Somaliland, comparatively little is known of 

 its biology. Dr. Brumpt found the ticks living in dust under ledges of rock in the 

 dry bed of a stream frequented by porcupines (^). In British East Africa they have 

 been taken by Mr. Scholefield on the Yatta Plains (^) and in the Anglo-Egjrptian 

 Sudan tbey have been recorded by the writer as occurring at Gebelein (^). In 1913 

 Mr. CunUffe, working in England, obtained eggs and larvae from specimens sent him 

 from British East Africa, but failed to rear the latter (-). Figures of the adult 

 female appear in the Monograph of the Ixodoidea by Nuttall, Warburton, Cooper 

 and Robinson. The egg and unfed larva have been figured and described by 

 Mr. Cunliffe in The Journal of Parasitology {'^). 



Gebelein, which, as its name implies, consists of two rocky hills or gebels, is situated 

 on the White Nile about 200 miles south of Khartoum. These hills are sparsely 

 clothed with trees and other vegetation, and contain numbers of caves and crevices. 

 The fauna found on them includes leopards, hyaenas, warthogs, porcupines, honey- 

 badgers, conies, rock pigeons, guineafowl and innumerable bats. The ticks live 

 here among the debris — soil and rotting leaves and twigs — in the crevices between 

 the rocks and in the caves. 



A. brumpti was first found at Gebelein in 1909, when nine specimens were taken. 

 No other opportunity of obtaining specimens occurred until August 1913, when the 

 writer and his wife, as a result of two days' search, succeeded in capturing one adult 

 female and 29 nymphs of various sizes. When alarmed the ticks feign death and are 

 then exceedingly difficult to detect, especially in the dim light of the caves. In 

 fact, by merely turning over the debris in which they were living scarcely one was 

 obtained, and the method eventually adopted was that of gently disturbing the 

 debris and then watching. After a short time the ticks would come out towards 

 one to feed, and could then be seen. Of the 30 specimens taken, the adult female 

 and 12 nymphs were put aside for breeding purposes. 



The ticks in captivity. No difficulty was experienced in inducing them to feed 

 either on man or a rabbit, even when exposed to strong light. The adult female 

 was given a meal of human blood on 21st August, but after that it was fed on rabbits, 

 together with the nymphs. Eggs were obtained from the female in March and again 

 in April 1914, but all efforts to rear the resulting larvae failed. No more eggs were 

 obtained until October 1914, by which time seven of the nymphs had reached the 

 adult stage, five being females and two males. These females were then isolated, and 

 all received visits from one or other of the two males. 



