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inflicted by these creatures upon domestic animals, especially horses 
and cattle, can hardly be overstated, and a microscopic examination 
of the structure of their mouth-organs leaves no doubt as to their 
natural capabilities for producing all the mischief laid to their charge. 
That they are often found in immense numbers upon ill-tended 
animals is a fact well known to stock-keepers in warm climates : but, 
although much has been done in the investigation of their minute 
structure, there still remain some missing links in their life-history, 
one of which it is hoped to supply by the following note. 
All observers are agreed that when full grown and full fed the 
adult female tick voluntarily quits the animal upon whose blood it 
has been subsisting, and dropping off upon the ground, makes its way 
at once to the grass, amongst which it lays innumerable eggs, and 
dies. In favourable weather the eggs are said to hatch in about a 
fortnight, but what becomes of the young larvae, or how they contrive 
to exist until opportunity arises for attaching themselves to some 
passing animal, is one of the points which remains to be cleared up ; 
certain it is, however, that their habit is to ascend the grass-stalks in 
large numbers, there to await a passing chance of transference, and 
persons who walk amongst grass at the season when they most abound 
are sure to return with lively remembrances. 
Early in November last I received by post a small consignment of 
various Cape insects, and inclosed with them was a cattle tick of larger 
size than any I had hitherto seen, its length on arrival being rather over 
3/4 in., and its weight 25 grains. My correspondent stated that it was 
not of a kind usually found in the interior of the colony, but that it 
had been taken from an ox recently brought up from the coast ; it was 
sent off on October 13th, at which time it was said to have weighed 
40 grains, though then much less distended than when captured about 
thirty-six hours previously. It had apparently beguiled the tedium 
of the voyage by laying a quantity of eggs ; but, though torpid when 
unpacked, the warmth of the room soon revived it, and within an hour 
it was walking about the table, using, however, three pairs of legs 
only for the purposes of locomotion, and continually waving the first 
pair in the air in the same manner as an insect does its antennae. It 
has not been easy to determine with certainty to what species this 
specimen belonged ; size and colour, both being variable to a remark- 
able extent in the same individual under different conditions, cannot 
be greatly relied upon ; but a comparison with such descriptions and 
figures as have been available leads to the conclusion that it is pro- 
bably Amhlyomma coronatum , the more common species, which nearly 
equals it in size, having been identified with Amhlyomma Hehrseum of 
Koch. Having been carefully examined, weighed and sketched, this 
tick was placed in a glass -covered box, where it remained for several 
weeks in a state of inactivity, except at times, when for purposes of 
exhibition it was taken in the hand or warmed by the fire ; but early 
in December I noticed that the anterior portion of the ventral surface 
