453 
Oviposition in Cattle Tick. By Mr. It. T. Lewis. 
then withdrew (fig. 7) from sight, leaving the egg suspendel by one 
end from the under surface of the dorsal plate. The palpi came next 
into operation, slowly closing together until in lineal contact with the 
rostrum, the elevation of the head brought their spoon-like terminal 
joints into contact with the egg, a continuance of the motion effec- 
tively cleared it out of the depression (fig. 8), left it adhering to the 
outer margin, and the process was complete. The head was then 
again depressed, the palpi resumed their former position and the series 
of operations which I have attempted to describe were exactly 
repeated, each successive egg displacing but adhering to the one which 
preceded it until a chain was formed, and ultimately on reaching the 
ground a heap resulted such as I had so often seen and puzzled over. 
The procedure once established went on uninterruptedly, giving us 
ample time to make careful notes and sketches, and to call in other 
witness of a series of rhythmical movements which at last seemed to 
fascinate the attention in the same way as is sometimes experienced 
by watching the cycles of a complicated piece of automatic machinery. 
The mean of many observations showed that the entire process of lay- 
ing each egg occupied a period of 2 minutes 42 seconds, but after 
watching with great interest for upwards of 2 hours, during which we 
saw about 50 eggs laid without the least hitch — in one case only ex- 
cepted — the accumulated pile began so far to obstruct the view that I 
ventured to remove it by lightly touching with a needle. The result 
of this interference was the immediate cessation of the process, in the 
course of a few minutes the normal colour of the parts was restored, 
the head was again protruded, and from that time to the day of its 
death about two months later not another egg was laid. Whatever 
may be the precise nature of the fluid with which the eggs were 
coated, it . appears to possess the property of retaining its viscidity for 
a long time without becoming hardened by exposure to the air, so 
that eggs put into a tube readily become agglomerated into a ball by 
contact with each other, yet so lightly that the mass falls easily to 
pieces if lifted with the forceps, but as easily re-forms on being once 
more shaken together. Its possible use may be to afford additional 
protection from the heavy rains common in the regions where ticks 
do most abound, the slight cohesion affording but little obstruction to 
the escape of larvae hatched out from the middle of the mass. The 
eggs themselves are not easily injured by pressure, having very tough 
elastic envelopes which explode with a smart crack when thrown upon 
the fire. I did my best to hatch out those laid by the tick which 
forms the subject of these observations, but though kept at an even 
temperature by being carried in the pocket for three months they all 
eventually flattened and collapsed, from which I concluded that they 
must have been unfertilized. On repeating the experiment with a 
quantity of similar eggs laid by the more commonly known “ Great 
Cattle Tick,” identified by Mr. Bairstow as Amblyomma Hebrseum , 
and coming from the same district, I succeeded in hatching out a 
