814 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
the Orange River. Lamoureux (1913) found it on the northwestern coast of 
Madagascar. It has been observed south of Lake Chad by Closel, but there 
appears to be no other record of its existence in the Sudan.* 
Ornithodoros moubata is the only species of the genus known with certainty 
from the Belgian Congo. ‘Ornithodoros savignyt caecus,” listed by Schwetz 
(1927, Rev. Zool. Afrie., XV, 1, p. 88), from Mateba, is a synonym of O. mou- 
bata. Another species, O. savignyi (Audouin), differing in the presence of eyes, 
should be searched for, since it occurs in Rhodesia, Tanganyika Territory and 
Uganda. Neumann (1896, Mém. Soc. Zool. France, IX, p. 29) recorded it 
from Landana, Portuguese Congo, but most probably by error, since he had 
not recognized O. moubata at the time. 
Another tick of the family Argantidae, Argas persicus (Oken), has been 
reported from the Katanga, where it was first found in chicken coops at Elisa- 
bethville by Dr. R. Mouchet in 1916. J. Schwetz (1927, Rev. Zool. Afric., XV, 
1, p. 74) records it also from the Lower Congo (Boma and Mateba). 
No species of Argas or Ornithodoros are at present known from Liberia. 
SARCOPTIDAE 
Sarcoptes scabiei (Linnaeus) 
Acarus siro scabiei Linnaeus, 1758, ‘Syst. Nat.,’ Ed. 10a, p. 616 (Europe, America). 
Acarus scabiet de Geer, 1778, ‘Mém. pour Servir 4 |’Histoire des Insectes,’ VII, p. 94, Pl. V, 
figs. 12-14. 
Sarcoptes scabiei Latreille, 1802, ‘Hist. Nat. Crust. Ins.,’ III, p. 67. Warburton, 1920, Parasitol- 
Oey, Zell, p. 272, fies. 1-2, Pl. XV. 
Sarcoptes hominis Hering, 1838, ‘Kratzmilben der Thiere u. Verwandte Arten,’ (Bonn). 
Sarcoptes scabiet var. hominis Buxton, 1921, Parasitology, XIII, p. 146, figs. 1, 5, and 6. 
LipertaA.— The human itch-mite is of common occurrence among the 
natives of that country. Dr. Max Theiler found scabies prevalent in Kru Town 
near Monrovia. At Gbanga we were told of a skin disease, known as “‘craw- 
craw’? among the Libero-Americans, which was said to be very contagious 
during the heavy rains, much less so during the drier months. Several cases 
were brought to us for study and in the scrapings from the skin Dr. Theiler 
and I were able to demonstrate Sarcoptes scabiet. 
These findings support Blacklock’s? conclusions that the disease called 
‘““craw-craw’’ in many parts of West Africa is in most cases identical with 
seabies. Of course, one must expect the name to be applied sometimes to other 
skin diseases causing lesions somewhat similar in aspect to those produced by 
itch-mites. 
The generic name Sarcoptes Latreille (1802), with scabiei as genotype, 
having now been placed in the Official List of Generic Names (1929, Smithson. 
1 In 1919 (loc. cit.), I called attention to the fact that in the Plateau of the Walendu, on the western 
shore of Lake Albert, O. moubata was evidently not a recent introduction, as in the Ituri and Semliki 
Basins and in Uganda. I therefore regarded the Walendu Plateau as one of the primitive, autochthonous 
centers of this tick. Since this statement seems to have been misunderstood, I want to emphasize that 
the important centers of dispersal of O. moubata have always been in the dry areas of East Africa. 
? Blacklock, B. 1924. ‘Craw-craw in Sierra Leone.’ Ann. Trop. Med. Paras., XVII, 3, pp. 253-262 
Pls. 2VI-AVIL, , 
