Relief from attacks — Flowers of sulphur or powdered naphthalene 

 in stockings and underclothing, or rubbing in vaseline or bland oil 

 protects. As palliatives, warm, salt baths, ammonia, or sulphur 

 ointment. Destruction of mites on lawns, etc., by close cropping 

 sometimes feasible. 



Superfamily DCODOIDEA 



Ticks — Large, breathing pore on each side of the body, above 

 3d or 4th coxa; "tongue" large and roughened with sharp teeth. 

 Not only many serious parasites, but various species are now known 

 to play important roles in the transmission of diseases of man and 

 animals. See Banks, '08; Nuttall, '08-12; Salmon & Stiles, '02, 

 and many valuable reports of the Bureau of Entomology and the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, on life history, habits and classification. 

 Two families. 



A — Argasidae — Lack scutum (firm, chitinized dorsal shield); no 

 marked differences in general appearance between sexes. Palpi 

 composed of long, cylindrical joints which enable them to move in 

 a leglike manner. Nymphs and adults moderate and rapid feeders, 

 engorging and then leaving host and hiding in cracks and rubbish. 

 As an illustration : 



Argas persicus, a chicken tick. (See Hassall, '00). Cosmopolitan 

 in distribution, occurring among other regions in southern United 

 States, South America, Persia, Egypt, Australia, et. al., though it 

 has often been renamed, as a new species. In some regions transmits 

 a serious disease (spirochaetosis) of fowls. 



Description — Body usually flat and thin, much like a bedbug, 

 one-fourth inches long, outline oval, deep reddish brown. Tegument 

 roughened by wrinkles and folds and marked by circular pits. Head 

 or capitulum ventral. 



Life history and habits — Eggs laid in hiding places of the adults, 

 in cracks, crevices, etc., in batches of 20-100 more or less. Hatch 

 in about three weeks into six legged larvae or "seed ticks" which after 

 several days feeding drop from host and molting in about eight more 

 days into the first nymphal form, feeding intermittently and rapidly 

 for about two weeks when they again molt and the second nymphal 

 form is assumed. After some weeks these molt to form the adult. 

 Adults feed about once a month in hot weather, at longer intervals 



