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Biology of Ticks 
Males continue to wander from anchorage to anchorage in the absence of 
females, they may thus wander about for 86 days or longer after the females 
have abandoned the host. A male may copulate with several females. 
The behaviour of the sexes differs therefore in the three foregoing species. 
In A. hebraeum the females seek the males, in H. aegyjptium and R. bursa the 
males seek the females. In all three species the males remain upon the host 
indefinitely after the females have dropped off. In R. bursa the males continue 
to wander about from anchorage to anchorage long after the females have left, 
whilst in A. hebraeum and H. aegyjptium the males stop their wandering entirely 
or shift but slightly at longer intervals of time. 
The predominance of male ticks of any species upon a host under natural 
conditions is accounted for by their staying on and accumulating upon the 
host whilst successive lots of females drop off. As an example I may mention 
that I have seen camels in Biskra on which only males of H. aegyptium could 
be found; these males must have been a very long time upon the camels 
because their scutums were polished and scratched, the rugose surface so 
characteristic of the young male tick having been worn away. 
Copulation in all three species was observed on several occasions upon the 
host, the process lasted 10 minutes or longer and was similar to that described 
by me for Ornithodorus and Ixodes. 
Since the liability to injury increases with the degree of engorgement of 
the female tick it is a great safeguard to her that she attains her full state of 
engorgement rapidly at the end of her feeding period and that she drops from 
the host promptly. 
