ORDER ACARINA : THE TICKS 285 



these ticks — Argas and Ornithodorus — that annoy man. Fire 

 is the best method for temporary structures ; and for per- 

 manent buildings the free and frequent use of powerful 

 poisons, such as petroleum, perchloride of mercury, turpentine, 

 etc., and the application of lime-wash or hot tar, etc. Infested 

 fowls should be isolated in crates and separately treated, and 

 the crates subsequently be burnt. 



Family SPELAEORHYNCHID^. 

 (Gr. o-7r^\aioy = a cavern ; /oi;yxoy = beak.) 



Related to the Ixodidae and Gamasidae. 



Body broad and flat, with a dorsal scutum, and a small 

 sternum, or " plastron," between the coxse. The capitulum 

 is anterior ; dorsally it is semicircular in outline, ventrally it 

 appears as a cavern in the depths of which lie the chelicerae 

 and hypostome. The chelicerae end in lateral hooks, but 

 the hypostome is a slender unarmed style. Pedipalps 

 slender, composed of 5 segments. The anus is ventral ^nd 

 subterminal, and the genital pore lies immediately in front 

 of it. The stigmata lie above and behind the third pair 

 of legs. 



One species is known, from a bat, in Pernambuco. 



Neumann places this curious form with the Ixodidce, 

 separating it as a subfamily. 



