THE BROWN DOG TICK. 105 
Transvaal, Natal, Cape Colony, Madagascar, German Southwest Africa, 
Kamerun, Togo, Congo, and Senegal; in Asia from Arabia, Persia, 
Malay Archipelago, India, and China. It has also been reported 
from Australia, the Philippines, and the Hawaiian Islands. In this 
country it has been commonly taken in southern Texas as far north 
as Jackson County and San Marcos in Hays County, and as far 
west as Del Rio. The species has been collected at several points in 
Mexico as far west as Torreon, in Panama, Colombia, Guiana, and 
Brazil, and undoubtedly occurs in all of the intervening countries. 
It occurs throughout the West Indian Islands, having been reported 
from Jamaica, Haiti, Antigua, and Dominica. Ticks from the West 
Indies, including Cuba, Haiti, and Curacao Island, have been referred 
by Neumann to R. bursa. 
LIFE HISTORY. 
Observations on the biology of this tick have been made in India 
by Christophers (1907), in Jamaica by Newstead (1909), and in 
Texas by Hunter and Hooker (1907), and by Hooker (1908). 
Theegg (Table XX XII).—Christophers reports that engorged females 
after dropping from the host at once proceed to crawl away, climbing 
upward sometimes to a height of over 15 feet from the ground, into 
cracks and crevices. He states that it often crawls into cracks so 
narrow that it becomes firmly wedged in. We also have observed 
that there is a decided tendency for the females to crawl upward. It 
appears certain that the majority of females drop and deposit eggs in 
or near the kennel or sleeping place of the dogs. 
Temperature has a very marked influence on the preoviposition 
period. InJuly and August at a mean temperature of about 85° F., 
oviposition began on the third day after dropping, while ticks which 
dropped on November 1, 2, and 3, did not begin to oviposit until the 
fifty-fourth, sixty-ninth, and eighty-third days, respectively, after 
dropping. The mean temperature during these periods was about 
62° F. 
The period of deposition is also decidedly affected by the tempera- 
ture. This period varied from 8 to 67 days. The cool weather tends 
to produce intermittent deposition. The largest number of eggs re- 
corded, 2,616, was deposited within a period of 11 days, beginning on 
September 5, by a tick which measured 10 by 7 by 4.5 mm. The 
large daily deposition and the short period required for oviposition 
during warm weather are noticeable characteristics of this species. 
Of the 12 cases in which oviposition was recorded the smallest 
number of eggs was 360. This was in November. The average of 
the 12 females was 1,601 eggs. Death usually takes place between 
the first and fourth days after deposition is complete. 
