35
The tick is mainly nocturnal in its habits and behaves like the bed-bug. It,
however, reaches much larger proportions and must be an extremely noisome and
disgusting human pest. Not only so but it is possible that it plays a part in the
transmission of spirilloses as does the African species 0. moubata.
Argas vespertilionis (Latreille).— Found on Scotophilus kuhli by Captain
Patton (See hæmamœba of the bat).
Rhipicephalus annulatus (Say) .—All specimens of the Boophilus group which
I have so far seen in India conform to the descriptions of the above species, and
even if others are present this must be by far the most common species in Southern
India at least.
I have found it on hill cattle on the Nilgiris which had not recently been on
the plains. On cattle from Salem and Coimbatore, the chief cattle districts of the
Presidency, it is very common. It occasionally attacks buffaloes, but as a rule these
.animals are infested with H. fusca. It is probably the carrier of. P. bigeminum i n
the Presidency.
Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille).—This tick is of wide distribution and
very common. It is almost invariably associated with the dog and may appropri-
ately be termed the dog tick of India. Specimens of dog ticks from North India,
Bombay and Burma have nearly always been this species, H. ægyptium being some-
times also sent as a dog tick. The species carries Piroplasma cants and has been
made the subject of minute study by me in this connection.
R. bursa.—This species is found more commonly on the Nilgiris than on the
plains. It attacks goats and buffaloes. It is a species very similar in appearance
to B. sanguineus, but is larger. The larva and nymphs when gorged are also con-
siderably larger and take longer in metamorphosis than R . s a n g u i n e u s .
Several species of rhipicephalus have been received which appear distinct
species. For want of time they have not yet been worked out.
Hæmaphysalis fusca.—A species of hæmaphysalis, which correspondsvery
closely to Neumann's description of H. fusca, is 'the common tick of the sheep, goat
and buffalo, and what appears to be the same species attacks the cat and occasionally
the dog. It is practically never found on cattle other than buffaloes. The adult
tick is especially fond of the ears, but the nymphs and larvæ are difficult to find
and probably attack the body,as they do when fed artificially on the dog. The
tick is a smaller species than R. sanguineus, and of a grey colour when unfed. The
gorged tick, however, is greatly distended and the thin shiny skin allows the dark
colour of the blood to show through much more distinctly than is the case with the
rhipicephali. Like R. sanguineus the larva and nymph both drop from their host
to undergo metamorphosis. The adults when they have fallen off are very helpless
and do not climb up as does R. sanguineus to lay their eggs.
Hæmaphysalis spinigera.— I have on several occasions received ticks from
panthers and on one occasion from a tiger. The commonest species was always
H. spinigera.
Hæmaphysalis sp. nov .—A species of hæmaphysalis found on the mongoose
appears to be new. It resembles in its more salient features H. leachi (Audouin),
the African dog tick but Mr. Lounsbury, tells me it is a much smaller tick, than
this species.
Aponomma gervaisi.—This species is common on many species of reptiles and
is almost always to be found on the rat snake and a species of varanus. Another
species of aponomma not yet identified is also common on reptiles especially upon
the rat snake.
Amblyomma.—I
have received an extremely large species probably A.
m a r m o - r a t u m
f r o m w i l d p i g i n t h e N i l g i r i s . A n e q u a l l y l a r g e s p e c i e s ( A . s i l v e s t r i s 2 )
from cattle in Burma where judging from the number of specimens sent it appears
to be common. Two other species were taken by me from pig. The genus contains,
a large number of species and I have not yet worked up the material.