134 
Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
Nymph. — Body oval in outline, widely rounded behind, narrower in 
front ; length (unengorged) 1.50 mm., width 1.0 mm. ; colour light brown. 
.Shield (XI, c) quadranglar, narrow in front, sides diverging posteriorly, 
posterior edge wide and convex, cervical emargination shallow ; eyes at 
postero-lateral angles ; cervical grooves short, wide and shallow ; surface 
covered with numerous granulations ; colour darker near the anterior end. 
Dorsal surface with two anterior and three posterior grooves, numerous 
fine granulations and a few small whitish hairs ; festoons plainly marked. 
Ventral surface like dorsal ; genital grooves reaching nearly to posterior 
margin ; anal groove and ano-margmal groove well marked ; festoons pre- 
sent ; stigmatic plates elliptical in outline. Rostrum (XI, c) with base very 
wide and short ; lateral angles very prolonged and sharp at anterior 
quarter of length ; palpi slender, inserted on ventral surface ; article I 
very small, article II twice as long as wide ; article III not quite as long 
ns article II ; pit on medio-ventral surface bears article IV ; hypostome 
.slender, bears four rows of teeth with about seven teeth in a row ; 
mandibles as in female. Legs long and slender ; coxae all rectangular ; 
coxae I prolonged anteriorly, each coxae with two posterior teeth (XI, h); 
tarsi long, swollen in centre. 
Larva. — Body oval, much longer than wide ; colour light yellowish 
brown, shield darker; 0.50 mm. wide by 0.66 mm. long; when engorged 
they reach a length of 1.50 mm. by 0.66 min. wide, sidesL nearly . parallel, 
widely rounded behind and narrowed in front ; colour dark reddish or 
bluish. Shield covers a little more than the anterior third of the 
body when engorged ; wider than long ; posterior edge only slightly convex ; 
lateral angles rounded, and not at margins of body ; deeply emarginate in 
front to receive the rostrum ; cervical grooves shallow, a few spines present. 
Dorsal surface (XI, f) with three to five grooves ; festoons well marked. 
Ventral surface (XI, f) with genital grooves and posterior grooves 
normal ; stigmatic openings in four pairs, one behind each pair ot coxae, 
.and the fourth in the fourth festoon from the central one ; three pairs 
of spines between coxae ; numerous spines in posterior portion. Rostrum 
on a long neck, base very wide and short, lateral angles very sharp ; palpi 
inserted on ventral side of rostrum ; palpi swollen in middle, constricted 
at base and conical at tip ; article I very short, article II wider than long, 
.swollen at middle ; article III conical ; article IV in a pit on the median 
ventral surface of article III ; hypostome slender, four rows of teeth ; 
mandibles as in female. Legs Thick ; coxae all quadrangular, coxae I 
with an anterior prolongation which projects beyond the shield and shows 
from dorsal surface ; each coxae with a single posterior tooth ; tarsi thick, 
'conical at tip. 
Eggs— Light brown in colour, elliptical in outline ; surface polished ; 
length 0.5 mm., width 0.3 mm. 
Hosts. — Dog, horse, hare, goats, sheep, rabbit, cattle, lion, bush-pig 
(Potamochoemus choeropotamus), hedgehog (Erinaceus frontalis), wild dog 
{Lycaon pictus). 
Habitat. — Turkestan, Borneo, German East Africa, Abyssinia, Sierre 
Leone, Transvaal, Cape Colony, Madagascar, Mocambique. 
This tick assists in the transmission of East Coast fever. It seems to 
be confined to the more humid areas of South Africa. In Cape Colony it 
is confined more to the coastal belt of summer rainfall. In the Transvaal 
it seems to be most common in the bush and low veld, and more rare in 
the south-west high veld. 
