12 
development, and the only note I have met with of time taken is 
that of within four weeks at ordinary temperatures, given by Dr. 
Curtice from his own observations. 
The food is recorded by some of our best authorities of most 
recent date as consisting wholly of blood. At p. 41 of Dr. Curtice’s 
work, previously referred to, he describes the operation of blood¬ 
sucking, as he observed it himself (through a lens) to be carried on, 
on the back of his own hand. Thus he was able to watch the 
flies, or “Ticks,” boring into the skin, and also to see the abdomen 
enlarge as they slowly drew in the blood. Where the skin was too 
hard to be easily pierced, they “ usually succeeded by slipping their 
tube into a hair follicle.” No itching or irritation, or scarcely any, 
was felt at first, “but little swellings came on a day or two later 
which itched for over a week.” 
In all Dr. Curtice’s observations the “ Ticks” died in the course 
of a few days when removed from the sheep, excepting those 
mentioned above, which lived “ for nearly two weeks, or until their 
daily feeding was neglected.” In the case of the numbers sent to 
myself in wool in 1895, and also with those sent me in the past 
season, they all soon died. There appears to be no doubt that, 
excepting in accidental circumstances—such as the fly being carried 
away on fleeces, or by persons coming in contact with the sheep, or 
the pupa-cases falling from the fleeces to the ground—the parasite 
spends its whole life on the sheep ; but in each of the above- 
mentioned ways the infestation may be very readily spread to other 
sheep and lambs, and to the latter they are noted as a cause of 
great irritation, “veritable pests” at shearing time if they take 
refuge in their longer wool when the shorn coats of the old and 
infested sheep no longer afford the requisite shelter. 
Prevention and Remedies. — The most important remedial 
treatment appears to be dipping; whether here or in the United 
States all that appears to be considered necessary by way of appli¬ 
cation is the use of “dips.” On this point Prof. Robert Wallace 
notes, in his ‘ Farm Live Stock,’* speaking of these “ Sheep Ticks ” 
(known in Scotland under the name of Kades or Keds), “they 
may be kept very much under by timely dipping, if not got rid of 
altogether.” 
With regard to the kind of dips to be preferred : as it is quite 
certain that all sheep-owners have their own views on this point, 
* ‘ Farm Live Stock of Great Britain,’ by Robert Wallace, F.L.S., &c., Pro¬ 
fessor of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, p. 273. 
