136 LIFE HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN TICKS. 
Color brown, lateral margins of scutum with a dark red marking. 
Some engorged specimens are pink colored at the time of dropping; 
a few are dull white, but the greatest number are dark gray. Capitu- 
lum 0.136 mm. long (from tip of palpi to base of emargination of 
scutum); scutum 0.23 mm. long by 0.33 mm. wide. 
Egg.—Ellipsoidal, brownish yellow, smooth, shining. The maxi- 
mum size of 10 eggs measured was 0.539 by 0.385 mm., minimum 
size 0.508 by 0.400 mm., and average size 0.520 by 0.397 mm. 
HOST RELATIONSHIP. 
The type host is not known. Records of 49 collections have been 
made in Texas and Louisiana by agents of the bureau. Of these, 
12 were on dog, 11 on cattle, 8 on horse, 7 on meadowlark, 3 on 
sheep, 2 on goats, 1 on man, 1 on wolf, 1 on fox, 1 on quail, 1 on 
red-winged blackbird, and 1 on jack rabbit. A deer and a beetle 
have also been recorded as hosts. The larve of this species have 
not been collected by us on hosts in nature. Birds probably act as 
hosts for the larve and are undoubtedly common hosts of the nymph. 
Of the above-mentioned collections, the seven lots of this species on 
meadowlarks and the last four lots listed were all nymphs. Cattle 
and dogs appear to be the most common hosts of the adults, although, 
as is indicated by the host list given above, the species has no 
decided host limitations. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
(Fig. 10.) 
The type locality is “Carolina.” The species occurs commonly 
along the Gulf Coast from Cameron Parish, La., to the Rio Grande 
in Texas. It has been taken inland as far as Columbus, Victoria, 
and Laredo, Tex. A single male was collected on a dairy cow at 
Dallas, Tex. No cattle had recently been brought to this dairy from 
other points. Five lots have been collected by agents of the bureau 
on dogs at Orlando, Fla. The Marx collection contains a male 
specimen (labeled by Marx) from Tulare County, Cal. The Marx 
collection also contains a male and an unengorged female, labeled 
Memphis, Tenn. It seems quite probable that in these two latter 
instances the ticks were carried on cattle which were shipped inland. 
Prof. H. A. Morgan has called attention to the fact that the ticks 
collected by Niles (1898, pp. 28, 29) in Virginia and referred to as 
Dermacentor occidentalis belong to this species. 
Outside of this country this tick is known to occur in Mexico, 
Jamaica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, and Argentina. 
