PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
447 
was a matter of old knowledge that Ixodes laid its eggs from the front 
part of the body ; but the observations described in the paper had 
evidently been made under exceptionally favourable circumstances, and, 
so far as his knowledge went, they were perfectly novel. The seizure 
of the egg by the saccular arrangements and the coating of it with 
mucus by them was a thing which he believed had not been previously 
seen. As regarded the reference which had been made in the paper to 
Ixodes ricinus, be did not think it would be safe to conclude that the 
eggs were in that species laid in the same manner as that which had 
been described, because the vulva did not appear to be situated so far 
forward, but was nearly between the fourth pair of legs. On the other 
hand, it was of course true that the word vulva in the case of the Acarina 
was rather a vague term, because it was not always the same thing as 
the bursa cojjulatrix ; but in the case of Ixodes ricinus it was between 
the fourth pair of legs, and, moreover, if Pagenstecher was right in his 
description, the ovaries led up to it. With a view to the printing of the 
paper he might remark that the word “ head ” as there used was some- 
what misleading, because in this class of creatures there really was no 
head in the sense in which they understood the term to apply to the 
head of an insect ; but the whole of the movable organ commonly called 
the head was really the rostrum. In Ixodes it had somehow become 
the fashion to apply the expression rostrum to the projecting part 
containing the mandibles ; this was, however, by no means the rostrum, 
but only a part of it, being in fact a maxillary lip formed by the fusing 
together in the central line of the two sheaths containing the mandibles. 
The lower portion was armed with a number of recurved hooks, and the 
upper portion was channelled to admit of the free movement of the 
mandibles. When these had made an incision in the skin the maxillary 
lip was pushed into the orifice, and the separation of the two portions 
caused the hooks to hold firmly. When the creature wished to release 
its hold, the two portions were pressed together, and the organ could be 
withdrawn ; but if it was attempted to be torn out, the resistance of the 
hooks nearly always caused it to be broken off and left behind in the 
wound. The portions which were often called the rostrum — but which 
he had already explained were really the maxillary lips — were the 
representatives of the pedipalps in spiders, and the palpi mentioned 
were maxillary palpi, not labial. The subject of how to deal with these 
creatures was one of growing importance, because serious complaints 
were coming in from all parts of the colonies and elsewhere in warm 
climates as to the trouble which was being caused by them ; at the 
present time this was especially so with regard to the West Indies, 
where the mischief they did was enormous. 
The President inquired if it was not probable the mucus with which 
the eggs were covered was for the purpose of making them adhere to 
the hair of their hosts. 
Mr. Michael said it was, no doubt, of use in attaching them to the 
grass amongst which the eggs were always laid. It seemed probable 
that during their early stages they were vegetable feeders, but that, 
when they were ready to mature, the female ticks transferred them- 
selves to animals and then sucked blood, but before laying their eggs 
they dropped off upon the grass. Their capacity for absorbing blood 
