TROPICAL  HORSE  TICK 
Dennacentor  nitens,  Neum. 
hnengorged  female.  Slightly  larger  than  the  male.  Dark  red- 
brown  or  orange  brown.  Scutum  or  shield,  reddish  yellow  with 
irregular  blackish  markings.  Length  3  mm. 
Engorged  or  replete  female.  Uniformly  dull  yellow  or  yellowish 
diab.  The  integument  as  seen  under  a  lens  uniformly  covered  with 
minute  black  specks,  rather  widely  separated.  Ventral  surface 
bluish,  paler  anterioily.  Scutum  or  shield,  mouth  parts  and  legs  dark 
red-brown.  Dorsal  half  of  body,  with  three  more  or  less  well  defined 
and  epuidistant  grooves,  two  of  which  have  origin  at  the  lateral 
margins  of  the  scutum ;  besides  these  there  are  sometimes  present 
other  short  and  well-defined  grooves,  but  these  are  more  or  less 
irregular.  Length  lo  to  12  mm. 
Male.  To  the  unaided  eye  appears  of  a  uniform  dark  red-brown 
(piceous).  Scutum,  shining  dark  red-brown  to  red-brown,  with 
irregular,  and  somewhat  inconstant,  intense,  broad,  black  markings 
forming  a  coarse  reticulation  which  almost  obscures  the  paler  ground 
colour.  Legs  red-brown.  Length  2-50  to  3  mm. 
Eymph.  Uniformly  pale  ochreous  with  dusky  suffused  markings. 
Length  i  mm. 
Distribution.  Found  somewhat  sparingly  at  Kew  Park,  West¬ 
moreland;  Friendship  and  Pepper,  St.  Elizabeth;  Kendal  and 
Quebec  Park,  St.  Mary ;  Stony  Hill  and  Constant  Spring,  St. 
Andrew;  Great  Valley,  Manchester;  and  Halberstadt,  St.  Andrew. 
It  has  been  previously  recorded  also  from  several  other  localities,  so 
that  It  IS  fairly  widely  distributed  over  the  Island,  though  not  an 
abundant  species  anywhere. 
Distribution  outside  the  Island  of  Jamaica.  It  is  rare  apparently 
in  the  United  States ;  but  is  common  on  horses  at  San  Domingo  ; 
and  Neumann  records  it  from  Guatemala,  Venezuela,  and  Porto  Rico 
and  Hayti. 
Habits.  Little  or  nothing  apparently  is  known  of  the  bionomics 
of  this  common  and  widely  distributed  species. 
Hosts.  Almost  exclusively  confined  to  horses  and  mules,  chiefly 
the  former.  It  usually  occurs  in  little  colonies  inside  the  ears,  though 
