Protozoan Cattle Fever. Texas Fever. Paludism of Cattle. 595 



to five cc. of blood taken from an acute case at the crisis and in- 

 jected into the marginal vein of the ear in a rabbit, killed the sub- 

 ject in a few seconds. A similar amount thrown into the peri- 

 toneum of a Guineapig destroyed life in a few minutes. It is 

 probable that the dilution of the venom in the mass of tick pulp 

 and distilled water reduced its toxic quality to such a low ebb 

 that the red globules were comparatively unaffected by it and 

 successfully resisted the attacks of the microbe. 



The name Boophilus bovis was given to the bearer of the piro- 

 plasma by Cooper Curtice who made a special study of the tick, 

 and its development. For the description see Parasites, Ixodes. 

 Among the most marked and distinctive features of the female 

 are the extreme shortness and relative breadth of the rostrum, 

 the slender palpi, the eight rows of spines on the lower surface of 

 the labium, the smooth mandibles with terminal hooks, the limbs 

 long, slender, in seven segments, and each furnished with a 

 terminal pad (pulvillus) and one hook (fore limbs) or two hooks 

 (hind). Curtice has identified the ticks of hsemoglobinuria in 

 various other countries with the boophilus. The Garrapata of 

 Mexico and the West Indies, the Hsemaphysalis rosea of Cuba 

 (Koch), the Ixodes Annulata of Florida (Say), the Ixodes 

 Dugesii of Italy (Nequin), the Ixodes Algerieusis and the Ixodes 

 Egypti he found to be identical. There may be some doubt as 

 to the Rhipicephalus Annulatus Microplus of Buenos Ayres, 

 which agrees with the boophilus in size, in the thickness of its 

 rostrum, in the eight rows of hooks on the lower surface of the 

 labium, in its host and habits, in the fact that it transfers the 

 piroplasma to cattle, but the male has a distinct horny tail like 

 the B. Australis with which it appears identical. Curtice holds 

 that it was originally a North African tick, which was carried 

 by the Spaniards to their American colonies. Rhipicephalus 

 Annulatus of Roumania is probably the same, together with the 

 ticks that convey the piroplasma in the other countries of Europe. 

 There remain the B. Decoloratus of South Africa and the "Scrub- 

 tick ' ' of Australia both distinguished by the presence of a tail in 

 the male. ■ The life-history of the Queensland ' ' Scrub ' ' tick 

 coincides with that of the boophilus of America (Pound). 

 In Rhodesia the brown tick R. Appendiculatus, carries the germ 

 of the Coast fever. 



