282 ENTOMOLOGY FOR MEDICAL OFFICERS 



f Camerostome with movable lateral flaps O. talaje. 



^' ICamerostome without any movable laterals flaps = 3. 



("Anterior border of distal segments of legs with tubercles or 

 3. \ festoons = 4- 



I Anterior border of segments of legs not tuberous or festooned = 8. 



/Body not much contracted anteriorly = 5. 



1 Body pointed anteriorly =7. 



{Tubercles of distal segments of legs higher than broad, distant = 6. 

 Festoons of distal segments of legs as broad as high, contiguous 

 = 0. /aw»2^«/ic>j-«j (Namaqualand). 

 , /Eyes present = O. savignyi. 



I No eyes = O. moubata. 



/Eyes present = O. coriaceus. 



I No eyes = O. turicata. 



o /Integument with fine radiating wrinkles = O lakorensis. 



\ Integument granulous = 9. 



/ Tarsi appearing bifid at tip = O.furcosus {^caz.Aor). 



I Tarsi not appearing bifid at tip = 10. 



{Tarsi of first pair of legs with three dorsal tubercles, of the other 

 legs with one = O. canestrinii (Persia, Asia Minor). 



Tarsi without dorsal tubercles, or with one only =11. 



'Tarsi of last three pairs of legs with a pronounced dorsal pro- 

 tuberance = O. tholozanii (Persia, Asia Minor). 

 Tarsi of legs with dorsal protuberance indistinct 



= O. erraticus (North Africa). 



II. i 



Ornithodorus moubata, Murray (Fig. 124). Body oval, 

 with the lateral notch between cephalothorax and abdomen 

 not very conspicuous ; integument mammillose, very sparsely 

 hairy ; distal segments of legs fringed with tubercles on the 

 anterior border. This species is very common in Africa, 

 harbouring in native huts, in cracks in the mud floors 

 and in chinks in the walls and thatch ; as it is said to creep 

 into the natives' bundles it gets widely spread along the 

 highways of trade. Its h\X.Q per se is said to be very painful, 

 and to cause long-lasting swelling and itching; but a far 

 more serious possibility is infection with the Spirillum of 

 African relapsing fever. 



A female tick becoming infected with this spirillum not 

 only becomes itself infective (and probably remains infective 

 for the rest of its life), but it also transmits the infection to 

 its eggs and so to the next generation, and possibly to 

 further generations. According to the observations and 

 experiments of Leishman, the infection remains fast chiefly 



