416 
NeiD Species of Ticks 
Described from b fs, and 11 $’s found on a large rodent, Oshogbo, 
S. Nigeria, W. Africa, 28. ll. 1910, J. J. Simpson (N. 1214). (416, 
Entomological Research Committee for Tropical Africa.) 
We at first referred the specimens to Rhipicephalus falcatus 
Neumann, 1908^ but on examining the types in the British Museum, 
and after consulting Professor L. G. Neumann, we have decided to 
accord them specific rank. In Rhip. falcatus the colour is blackish, 
the punctations numerous, the body and adanal shields narrower; in 
the $ the scutum is as long as broad (2 mm.), the punctations 
numerous. Owing however to the great range of variability which my 
colleague Mr Warburton and myself have observed in different species 
of Rhipicephalus, it is quite possible that some of the differences w'hich 
we now regard as specific may ultimately prove to be merely varietal. 
I am greatly indebted to Mr F. M. Howlett, B.A., Second Imperial 
Entomologist, Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, Bengal, India, for 
very kindly executing, during his visit to Cambridge, the careful 
drawings (Fig. 4 excepted) illustrating this paper. All of the drawings 
were made from opaque specimens, pre.served in alcohol, with the aid 
of a camera-lucida. I desire also to express my thanks to the Entomo¬ 
logical Research Committee for Tropical Africa (Colonial Office), t6 the 
Hon. N. C. Rothschild, and to Messrs J. H. Ashworth, T. P. Beddoes 
and W. Evans for kindly placing the specimens here described at our 
disposal. 
The expenses of these investigations on ticks are being partly 
defrayed thi’ough the aid of a grant from the Government Grant 
Committee of the Royal Society. 
' Neumann, L. G. (vii. 1908). Notes sur les Ixodides. Notes from the Leyden Museum, 
XXX. p. 77, Fig. 4. (Rhip. falcatus.) 
