172 
Psyche 
[December 
nymphal skins of 0. talaje were found in a joint in one 
of the frames. 
Upon inquiry regarding the presence of rats in the house, 
Mrs. X informed me that when they first moved into the 
apartment, the place was badly infested with them. Efforts 
were at once made to get rid of these rodents. A carpenter 
closed all rat holes that could be found in the apartment. 
That these efforts proved to be successful was evidenced 
by the fact that no rats had been seen for some time. 
On April 6th, Inspector Roach visited the house, and 
at this time was given a bottle containing twelve of the 
ticks. These were also second and third stage nymphs, 
and had been collected during the thirty-eight days since 
our former visit. 
On May 29th, I again visited the house, and at this time 
Mr. X was suffering from the effects of the bites of three 
of these ticks. Two of his fingers were badly swollen and 
were in bandages. The third bite was on his back and had 
produced a severe local reaction with swelling, considerable 
irritation and several large wheals appeared in the sur- 
rounding area. Two of the ticks had been found a few 
days before my visit and both of these were third stage 
nymphs. Mr. X stated that he had taken one of these 
ticks after it had dropped on one of the beds from the 
ceiling. Mrs. X claimed that she had swept several from 
the cracks in the floor of the bedroom. 
On September 20th one more tick was received. This 
was an adult male that had been taken while feeding upon 
Mr. X. 
No more specimens were received from this house, and 
upon making inquiries a few weeks later I was informed 
that the family were no longer being bitten and that no 
more ticks were being found in the apartment. 
The twenty-five ticks that I received from this house 
probably fell short of the total number that was found 
during that time. It is quite reasonable to believe that 
many more were destroyed when found and not collected 
alive. 
I am of the opinion that rats were responsible for bring- 
ing the 0. talaje to this apartment. It is quite probable 
