202 ZOOLOGY. 



other remedies can be used with good results in 

 combating scabies in most of our domestic animals. 

 But there is more difficulty with sheep than with 

 other animals, for the fleece is a hindrance to the 

 beneficial action of the wash employed. It is not 

 possible to make the sheep quite healthy so long as 

 they remain unshorn. Till then, the eSbrts made 

 must be directed to preventing the spread of the 

 mange. This is managed in the following way. The 

 crust is scraped from the parts attacked, after the 

 loose wool which covers them has been removed. 

 The mangy places are then rubbed with a decoction 

 of tobacco leaves with carbolic acid (1 part carbolic 

 acid to 15 parts spirit and 60 parts water), or 

 with some other of the remedies named above. When 

 the sheep are shorn, first dip them in a solution 

 (2 parts soda, 1 part lime, and 50 parts water) by 

 which the crust on the affected places is softened ; 

 twenty-four hours later dip in a solution which will 

 kill the mites. A decoction of tobacco (1 part tobacco 

 to 12 parts water) may be used for this purpose, using 

 for each sheep about If pints of the fluid, to which 

 has been added 6^ drams carbolic acid and 6^ drams 

 alcohol. The first washing must be followed by a 

 second, for the fluid destroys only the mites and not 

 their eggs. As the young mites are hatched out in 

 three to seven days, the dipping must be repeated 

 seven days afterwards. 



Family: Ixodidae (Tichs). 



Ticks are generally rather larger than the mites of 

 the preceding family. The skin is tough as leather. 

 The front part of the body is covered by a hard shield 

 above ; the skin of the hinder part, though tough, 

 is very extensible. The front end laears a sucking 

 apparatus formed by the pointed jaws, and by its 

 means the tick pierces the skin of man or animals 



