Annals of the Tkansvaal Museum. 



95 



white hairs. Doi-.^^dl surface with two short anterior grooves, a little 

 divergent ; three posterior grooves, the median one straight, and the 

 lateral grooves concave inward ; sexnal orifice opposite the last inter- 

 coxal space ; sexual grooves curved and converging at their posterior 

 extremities; ano-marginal grooves curved inward, and approaching 

 at their posterior ends, enclosing a horseshoe-shaped area ; anus as 

 in male ; stigmatic plates whitish in young specimens, brownish later. 

 Bostrum elongate; base reniform on dorsal surface, a little wider than 

 long on the ventral surface, pentagonal in outline ; porose areas 

 elongate ; mandibles elongate, inner apophysis with two backward 

 projecting teeth, one terminal, the other in the middle of the length, 

 a long point of insertion, ending near the posterior quarter of the 

 digit; outer apophysis with five teeth, x^rogressively increasing from 

 tip to base; hypostome elongate, lanceolate, a series of small teeth at 

 the tip, followed by three rows, more or less regular, of well developed 

 teeth, one lateral row, with teeth strong and sharp, the anterior and 

 posterior teeth weaker, a middle row with smaller teeth, and an inner 

 row of still shorter teeth, not passing below the anterior half of the 

 organ ; palpi elongate, narrow, flattened and excavated as in male, 

 article II especially elongate and narrow, constricted at the base. 

 Legs slender, coxae elongate, contiguous when j^oung, separated when 

 female is engorged, coxae I, with a rudimentary spine on its posterior 

 margin; hairs on all tlie articles; tarsi as in male. 



Hosts. — On warm-blooded animals, .such as ox, mule, horse, cat, 

 dog, pig, leopard, bushbuck, man, sheep, and goat. Donitz also 

 reports a female as taken from a civet cat at Umtali. 



Hahifat. — Cape Colony, Orange Kiver Colony, all South African 

 Colonies, in grass districts (Lounsbury). 



Lounsbury states that this tick is fouud in the grass districts of 

 al] the vSouth African Colonies, but is never very common. It seems 

 to prefer humid conditions, such as are furnished by ill-drained fiats 

 and ravines. It is difficult to rear. All stages seem to prefer the 

 head and ears of the host animal, although they may be found on any 

 part of the body. So far we have not found it in the Transvaal, its 

 place being taken by the variety ho ward i; it is this tick which is 

 supposed to cause the paralysis of sheep in Cape Colony. 



IXODES PILOSFS, var. HOWARDI, NEUMANN . 

 Plate IV, figures a to /»-. 



Male. — vSimilar to the tyi)e species except in the following points : 

 a little smaller than pilosus, l)eiiig 2.3 mm. long by 1.2 mm. wide, 

 instead of o.l5 mm. by mm. ; the spine on coxae I is very weak; 

 the hypostome {IV , f) has three to four rows of teeth on each half, 

 instead of one row and crenulatioiis ; the teeth are arranged as 

 follows: denticles at tip, then on each half one or two rows of three 

 teeth each, the lower one of which may be reduced to only one very 

 strong tooth ; the inner apophysis of the mandibles has two equal 

 teeth, with a l)asilar point of insertion (/ C, /) ; the outer apophysis 

 has five o]- six teeth instead of seven or eight. 



