406 



BUEEAU OF AmMAL INDUSTRY. 



Regarding the technical name of this species an unfortunate confusion has arisen. 

 When Packard proposed the najne ^'Argas americana'^ in 1873, he overlooked the 

 fact that Ercolani in 1859 had adopted the name ' ' Argas americanus Latreille ' ' for a 

 form which is parasitic on the ears of horses in San Domingo. In 1871, Gamgee also 

 referred to the same form as ' ' Argas americanus. ' ' Furthermore, it appears that in 

 1804, Amblyomma americanum was placed in the genus Rhynchoprion by Hermann 



Fig. 78.— Ventral view of larva of Argas miniatus. Greatly'enlarged. Original, 



as "Rhynchoprion americanum.^ ^ Rhynchoprion, however, is a synonym of Argas, 

 and this combination would therefore invalidate the name Argas americana Pack- 

 ard, 1873." In view of the facts just stated, Railliet changed the name of the chicken 

 tick to Argas radiatus, but Neumann has recently reexamined the types of Koch's 

 A. miniatus from French Guiana and pronounced them identical with this species. 

 A. Sanchezi is also probably identical with the chicken tick. 



