SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPOHT. 



437 



Distention has begun by that time, and seems to proceed whether or not a male has 

 come up; this is another point that needs confirmative observation. A few females 

 observed have fallen in seven days, but the great majority have not fallen until after 

 the ninth day, and some have remained until the eleventh. The male remains on 

 the skin when his mate drops, but what becomes of him afterwards I have not 

 observed. 



The life period on the host for the female is thus from three to four and one-half 

 weeks. No individual ticks that I have observed have, however, dropped in less 

 than twenty-three days, and most remained for twenty-six. The entire life cycle 

 may be passed in two summer months, but, in fact, probably seldom takes less than 

 two and a half or three. There is a possibility of three broods a year in our Cape cli- 

 mate and a probability of at least two broods. 



The life period on the animal during the winter months is not likely to be more 

 than a day or two longer than in the summer, at least when dry weather is the rule 

 in winter as it is in our eastern sections. Being hidden in the hair when young 

 and pressed against the warm body of the animal, the tick is kept warm throughout 

 its stay. Numerous nymphs and some larvae, which I scraped off after they had 

 ceased to feed, moulted when kept in glass tubes; but the change in some cases took 

 over a week in place of the two or three days as it would have on the warm skin. 

 Some of the adults obtained in this way were kept alive for twelve days in the tubes 

 and were then placed in spirit; as they can thus do without food, it can not be neces- 

 sary for them to settle down at once after molting on an animal. 



BoopHiLus OF Doubtful Systematic Position. 



Besides the above-described forms, other ticks have been described 

 which belong to Boophilus, but their exact status must be determined 

 by a comparison of the specimens in question with the other forms. 

 They will be mentioned here under the generic name {Rhi/picephalus) 

 under which they were described, rather than as Boophilus^ in order 

 to avoid unnecessarily increasing synonyms. 



A. HYPOSTOME WITH TEN ROWS OP DENTICLES. MALE WITH TAIL. 



Rhipicephalus caudatus^ (Neumann, 1897) Fuller, 1899. 

 (Figure 1545.) 



Neumann proposed for certain ticks a new variety, under RTiipi- 

 cephalus annulatus^ naming it Hh. annulatus caudatus. It is apparent 

 that the Japanese specimens were looked upon as types. He consid- 

 ered these identical with Hh. microjplus Canestrini from Paraguay — 

 under which circumstance the new name cmidatus was not justified. 

 Neumann's description reads: 



I include also in Rhipicephalus annulatus, with the rank of a variety {Rh. annulatus 

 caudatus) , a form which is represented in my collection by 23 females and 2 males 



^Synonymy and Bibliography. 

 1887: ? Hsemaphysalis micropla Canestrini (1887), p. 104, pi. ix, figs. 3-5. [See also 



Canestrini, 1890, p. 493, placed in Rhipicephalus. — Neumann, 1897, pp. 408, 



413, as syn. of Rhipicephalus annulatus caudatus. ] 

 1890: ? Rhipicephalus microplus (Canestrini) Canestrini, 1890, p. 493, 

 1897: Rhipicephalus annulatus caudatus Neumann, 1897, pp. 413, 414, fig. 42. [See 



also Stiles & Hassall, 1901, p. 3.] 

 1899: Rhipicephalus caudatus (Neumann) Fuller, 1899, pp. 390, 391. 



