184 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept.  2,  i8;5. 
painful.  I have  devised  many  tortures,  mechanical 
and  chemical,  to  induce  these  disgusting  intruders  to 
withdraw  their  proboscis,  but  in  vain.” 
Bates,  on  passing  through  the  grassy  lanes  of  the 
second-growtn  woods  on  tlm  Amazons,  often  found 
himself  covered  by  ticks.  It  occupied  him,  he  says, 
a full  hour  after  his  day’s  work  to  clear  himself  of 
the  parasites. 
Belt  refers  to  the  “ grass-lice  ” on  the  plains  of 
Nicaragua,  as  quickly  covering  any  one  travelling 
through  the  country,  so  much  so,  that  the  herds- 
men or  “vacqueros”  keep  a ball  of  soft  wax  with 
which  to  rub  themselves.  The  smaller  ticks  are  thus 
removed  from  their  skin,  while  the  larger  ones  are 
picked  off  by  hand. 
Many  a time,  in  walking  through  grass  in  the  Lee- 
Ward  Islands,  I have  been  conscious  of  the  peculiar 
itching  at  the  ankles  caused  by  the  attacks  of  “ bete 
rouge.”  The  bete  rouge  is  not  in  reality  a tick,  al- 
though often  confused  with  it.  Horses  seem  to  bo 
particularly  liable  to  its  attacks,  with  the  result  that 
they  lose  all  the  hair  about  the  face  and  eyes.  In 
all  probability  the  poor  animals  suffer  a good  deal, 
for  ihe  personal  irritation  is  extreme.  The  bi*te  rouge 
is  exceedingly  minute,  and,  as  its  name  implies,  is 
of  a brilliant  scarlet.  ’ At  night,  after  retiring  to  rest, 
the  warmth  of  the  body  seems  to  increase  the  ir- 
ritation to  the  utmost  pitch,  and  sleep  becomes 
Absolutely  impossible.  Rubbing  or  scratching  the 
parts  attacked  merely  intensifies  the  discomfort,  the 
creature  pushing  itself  deeper  into  the  flesh.  Most 
painful  sores  are  the  result  if  the  greatest  caVe  is  not 
taken.  The  one  certain  remedy  seems  to  be  to  anoint 
the  inflamed  spots  with  vasline.  This  substance  not 
Only  soothesj  but  appears  to  destroy  th'e  bOte  rouge 
by  stopping  up  its  breathing  pores.  I have  never  suc- 
ceeded in  detecting  the  creature  on  the  skin,  but, 
when  reading  in  or  near  an  infested  lawn,  I have 
captured  many  by  watching  for  the  minute  scarlet 
dots  travelling  over  the  white  paper. 
The  damage  done  by  ticks  to  cattle  is  undoubtedly 
very  serious.  According . to  observations  by  Leidy, 
the  adult  female  tick  is  able  to  absorb  100  times 
its  weight  of  blood,  swelling  during  that  time  to  an 
Onormous  extent.  This  food  is  rapidly  changed  into 
eggsi  The  adult  male  does  not  increase  appreciably 
in  size,  but  his  demands  upon  the  host  have  pro- 
bably been  greatly  under-rated.  An  account  of  tick- 
infested  cattle  in  Queensland  states  that  they  were 
BO  completely  covered  that  the  branding-iron  had  to 
be  burnt  through  the  ticks  before  it  was  possible  to 
reach  the  animals'  skins.  A case  in  Texas  is  men- 
tioned where  it  was  found  impossible  to  lay  a silver 
dollar  Upon  the  body  of  the  animals  without  touch- 
ing some  ticks.  Again  in  Texas,  100  full-grown  ticks 
were  collected  from  each  ear  of  a pony,  while  many 
Immature  ones  were  loft  behind.  The  mere  abstrac- 
tion of  blood  must,  in  this  case,  be  a very  serious 
drain  upon  the  system. 
When  one  considers,  further,  the  irritation  ex- 
perienced by  travellers  from  the  few  ticks  fixed 
upon  them  in  their  daily  rambles,  it  may  be  safely 
concluded  that  the  penetration  of  the  countless  pro- 
boscides into  the  skin  of  cattle  must  of  itself  be  a 
source  of  great  discomfort,  especially  as  these  animals 
are  quite  unable  to  get  rid  of  them.  Calves  not  un- 
commonly are  destroyed  by  the  formation  of  balls 
of  hair  in  their  stomachs ; and  in  tick-regions  this 
is  undoubtedly  due  to  an  attempt  to  get  rid  of  the 
par.asites  by  licking  and  biting  them  off. 
It  is  quite  conceivable,  then  that  ticks  do  really 
cause  the  death  of  multitudes  of  cattle  on  the  great 
estates  where  it  is  impossible  to  examine  them 
closely.  We  should,  however,  approach  this  part  of 
the  subject  with  caution.  Sickly  cattle  are  usually 
covered  by  ticks,  while  the  healthy  ones  have  only 
a tew  • but  it  is  questionable  whether  the  ticks  are 
the  real  cause  of  their  emaciation.  The  ca.-e  of  ticks 
seems  rather  to  be  analogous  to  that  of  scale  insects 
on  piants.  The  latter  pests  appear  in  great  quanti- 
ties at  any  period  of  stress,  wlien  from  lack  of  nutri- 
ment or  other  cause  the  plants  become  weekly.  Thus, 
in  Antigua,  there  is  a marked  disappearance  of  scale 
insects  with  the  commencement  of  the  rainy  season. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  prevalence  of  ticks  upon 
certain  cattle  is  rather  due  to  conditions  of  the  blood 
or  skin  of  the  animal,  closcl}’  connected  uitli  its  general 
nutrition.  This  is  an  exceedingly  important  matter  for 
determination,  for  upon  it  as  will  presently  be  shown, 
depends  the  only  means  of  freeing  the  eattle  from 
these  pests. 
Thus  far  the  direct  effects  of  ticks  upon  cattle  have  been 
considered.  Certain  alarming  facts  have  lately  been 
brought  to  light  with  regard  to  the  relations  existing 
between  ticks  and  different  well-known  cattle  diseases. 
The  subject  is  by  no  means  new  having  long  been 
a fascinating  one  for  cattle-breeders.  The“louping- 
ill  ” or  “trembling  ” of  the  north  of  Britain  has  been 
traced  by  some  directly  to  the  presence  of  ticks 
upon  the  sheep.  The  same  may  be  said  of  a disease 
called  “ heart-water  ” at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Finally,  the  United  States  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture has  for  the  last  five  or  six  years  been  conduct- 
ing exhaustive  experiments  upon  the  connection 
between  ticks  and  the  Texas  cattle  fever,  the  results 
of  which  have  appeared  in  the  annual  reports  of 
the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  already  referred  to. 
There  is,  in  this  latter  case,  present  in  the  blood  of 
the  cattle  suffering  from  disease,  an  infusorian  which 
quickly  destroys  the  red  blood  corpuscles.  This 
minute  oi'ganism  has  also  been  detected  in  the  body 
of  the  tick.  It  has  been  again  and  again  transferred 
from  diseased  animals  to  healthy  ones  by  means  of 
the  tick,  alid  tick  alone. 
Ticks,  then,  are  In  certain  cases  connected  with 
the  transmission  of  deadly  disease.  In  how  many 
more  cases  this  is  so  remains  to  be  investigated.  It 
is  quite  possible  that  some  of  the  obscure  cattle 
diseases  in  different  parts  of  the  world  are  caused  by 
ticks,  and  that  other  countries  will,  in  their  turn,  be 
forced  to  face  this  problem. 
There  is  now  and  then  an  outbreak  of  a severe  skin 
disease  among  cattle  in  A.ntigua;  and  this  disease 
does  not  appear  to  be  known  in  the  neighbouring 
islands.  Judging  from  the  climate  and  peculiar  con- 
ditions of  Antigua,  the  scarcity  of  water  and  lack  of 
nutritious  food  for  part  of  the  ye.ar  might  be  con- 
sidered sufficient  to  account  for  a local  disease ; but 
there  is  also  a large  tick  present,  which  has  not 
been  recorded  from  the  other  islands  of  the  group. 
A loose  theory  has  thus  arisen  that  this  “golcftiJc” 
is  connected  with,  if  not  the  direct  cause  of  the 
cattle  disease. 
The  evidence  available  does  not  tend  to  confirm 
this  idea,  but  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  solve  the 
problem  in  the  absence  of  proper  appliances.  I was 
led  however,  to  commence  observations  upon  the 
gold  tick,  which  may  be  of  interest. 
In  considering  the  re.nedies  for  ticks,  one  is  soon 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  direct  measures  against 
the  parasite  themselves  will  be  of  little  avail.  Methods 
of  prevention  are  always  preferable  to  those  of 
cure,  and  in  no  case  is  this  more  so  than  with 
parasites  of  this  class.  Besides  this,  they  are  practi- 
cally invisible  at  the  most  dangerous  stage ; and 
when  we  see  the  ugly,  swollen,  mature  si"ecimcnB, 
wo  know  that  their  evil  work  is  done.  All  lar>'e 
females  should  bo  carefully  collected  and  burnt, 
however,  as  thus  future  attacks  will  be  diminished.  ' 
The  treatment  of  pastures  is  a very  important 
matter.  Here  probably  the  parasite  spends  the 
greater  part  of  his  early  life— usually  on  the  rag- 
ged bunches  of  old  grass  left  from  previous  years. 
The  proper  feeding  or  cutting  of  the  grass,  and 
the  liming  and  draining  of  the  pastures,  will 
destroy  myriads  of  the  infant  ticks  or  “grass-lice.  " 
For  the  sake  of  the  animals,  there  is  every  induce- 
ment to  render  the  pasture  as  nutritious  as  pos- 
sible ; and  ticks  do  not  seem  to  trouble  the  sleek 
cittle  of  the  herd.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  more- 
over, that  the  improvement  in  food,  due  to  change 
of  pasturage,  does  in  certain  cases  cause  all  the  ticks 
to  drop  off  infested  animats.  The  first  class  of 
remedies  will  aim  at  cutting  off  the  supply  of  ticks 
by  treating  the  pastures. 
The  second  class— one  might  say  almost  the  only 
one  which  is  attempted  in  the  troiiics — is  the  des- 
truction of  ticks  upon  the  cattle. 
The  common  method  of  tying  the  logs  of  the 
animal  together,  hurling  it  to  the  ground,  and 
