G. H. F. Nuttall and G. Merriman 
41 
chelicerae and palps) together into the orifice. The mouthparts are 
pushed in and withdrawn with a sawing motion, the capitulum being 
alternately protruded and retracted from his body whilst it is directed 
backward almost at a right angle to the long axis of the male’s body. 
The mouthparts penetrate more and more deeply but not further 
than the basal article of the palps. At each movement of partial 
withdrawal the male mouthparts are tilted forward so that friction 
against the anterior lip of the vulva takes place. The chelicerae 
are all the while being actively protruded and retracted within their 
transparent sheaths, the distance which they travel in their movement 
to and fro corresponding about to the length of the second palpal 
article; the chelicerae usually move alternately. Presently the male 
capitulum is more and more depressed so that the hypostome points 
slightly backward whilst the dorsal surface of the basis capituli comes 
to be placed on a line traversing the first pair of coxae about midway 
along their length when viewed ventrally. (When disturbed at this 
stage it is seen that the male and female sexual apertures are in 
apposition.) The ventral surface of the female, together with the thick- 
lipped vulva, has, up to this, been somewhat prominent, but now the 
area about the vulva, and especially posterior to it between the first pair 
of coxae, becomes markedly depressed. At the moment when the 
female venter becomes depressed the male withdraws his mouthparts 
completely from the vulva and at the same time separates his body 
somewhat from that of the female to which it has hitherto been closely 
applied. The male’s capitulum is now directed forward, whilst the palps 
and chelicerae are working actively, the digits being moved about 
rapidly. (When the sexes are separated at this stage it is found that 
the spermatophore is issuing from the male sexual orifice. The 
spermatophore, viewed as a whole, is flask-shaped, with a long thin 
neck, which is the first part to issue from the orifice; the tip of the 
neck of the flask when it issues adheres to the tip of the male 
hypostome. The spermatophore is ejected rapidly and lies along the 
venter of the female with the neck directed toward the vulva into 
which it is immediately inserted by the hypostome of the male. 
A moment later a large amount of clear-watery fluid emerges from 
the coxal glands of the male.) When viewed from in front, the ticks 
not being disturbed, a large amount of clear fluid now floods the space 
between their venters ; th^ male reintroduces his mouthparts into the 
vulva, and the ticks again bring their bodies close together. The male 
mouthparts are worked to and fro very much as they were at first, and. 
