JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 
AUGUST 1892. 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 
IX . — Note on the Process of Oviposition as observed in a Species of 
Cattle Tick. 
By R. T. Lewis, F.R.M.S. 
{ Read 18 th May> 1892.) 
Plate VII. 
During the past six months I have occasionally received from a 
correspondent in Natal a number of specimens of the Tick family, 
together with such information as he has been able to gather con- 
cerning their habits of life, his main object being to elicit such further 
information as might be of use in indicating the most probable direc- 
tion in which some satisfactory means of dealing with this serious pest 
might be found. From his reports it would appear that the injury 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII. 
The eight figures given represent the anterior extremity of the tick during the 
process of oviposition, from a point of view directly in front of and slightly above the 
marginal line— scale x 14 — image erect. The arched portion at the top of each 
figure is the margin of the inflexible dorsal plate, below which is the depression 
produced by the retraction of the head* — the palpi and rostrum alone being visible. 
Surrounding this depression on its three other sides are the parts drawn over from 
the softer ventral surface by the same action. The first pair of legs are seen — one 
on either side — extended in an upward direction, the ovipositor is below and 
between them. 
Fig. 1 shows the parts referred to, at the commencement of the process. 
„ 2, the first appearance of the membranous sac above the head, the ovi- 
positor extending, and the palpi separating. 
„ 8, the same, further developed. 
„ 4, the position of the parts immediately prior to the extrusion of the egg. 
„ 5, the same, immediately after. 
„ 6, the membranous body enveloping the egg. 
„ 7, „ „ being withdrawn. 
„ 8, the removal of the egg by the palpi. 
* The word “head” here and throughout the paper is used in its ordinary and 
popular signification. As pointed out by Mr. Michael at the meeting (see p. 447) 
in Ixodes there is no true head, the part usually so designated being in reality the 
rostrum , a term often restricted to the projecting portion made up of the maxillary 
lip and the sheaths containing the mandibles. — it. T. L. 
1892. 2 I 
