| Show TICKS A tir A ty ARE degenerate RELATIVES OF horrid florrid little insects fasten themselves on animals and human beings delnes and suck blood until they are full tho the horrid little insects known as wood d ticks which fasten themselves upon animals and human beings and suck the blood until they hey become nearly four times their normal size are minute dangerous relatives of spiders which have become to a greater or less degree parasitic they constitute sti tute with the mites a group avarina represented in great variety in all ail parts of the world and everywhere troublesome to man and animals host of them are of pinhead pin head size but some become when swollen as large as hazel nuts tho the head la Is smi small 11 and almost merged into the neck but is armed with powerful biting jaws having backward pointed teeth enabling the creature to hang on firgir after burying its head in the skin of any animal with a clutch soft enough to be penetrated these mites and ticks abound in ili grass herbage and on the leaves of bushes on the under side of which some species make maho galls when a large animal 1 1 Z 06 t a wood ticks 1 rhinoceros mite 2 hippopotamus mite 3 british harvest ha r vest bug 4 beautiful f ul tick european comes along they seize upon it search some place in the skin akin soft and moist enough for their purpose drive in their jaws and having secured a firm hold begin to suck the blood and juices until they can hold bold no more and may have sivel swelled led from the size of a duck shot to that of an oval filbert stimulated by this gorge the eggs of oe the female develop rapidly are voided and fall to the ground or brushed off on lell leaves ves where they presently hatch batch and soon afterwards the parent dies it if let alone tho the presence of the tick does not seem to annoy wild animals greatly although the ticks gather sometimes in solid masses as mr air roosevelt mend mentions 0 ns of oe some of the antelopes he be encountered in british east africa but if an attempt la Is made to pull the creature f I 1 I 1 moose tick the mouth part of a tick showing the barbed jaws and sucking apparatus off after it Is well anchored the chances are that the neck will break before the jaws let go as you say and tho the head will remain in the skin to decay and form a festering wound hence the head bead should always be picked out with a needle or similar sharp instrument and that instrument should first be sterilized the red spider which troubles our plants the english harvest bug the minute mites of cheese and of sugar and the still more minute skin parasite of the itch disease are members of this same group there are however certain abnormal members of the fly family which infest birds sheep and some other animals and are known as aa ticks which must not be confounded with the true a carld nc arld ticks since they are true insects insects one of these Is the ho means of carrying the southern cattle disease called texas fever from ono ome and herd A larval tick showing six long ions legs lega inn oat lost in the hie first transformation and are re ra blared by the four our feet of 0 the adult to another when a person ands he has ticks upon him he should at ones onca cover them with thick oil and grease beneath which they will soon die and fall or can be removed without br breaking aking oft and leaving tho the head bead the same is true of animals there is hardly any animal which is free from their attacks and tho the accompanying illustrations show two kinds which afflict tho the rhinoceros and hippopotamus as well as some creatures nearer home it Is in search of them principally that tho the starlings nga and other birds search the hides bides of these and other largo large animals when resting and get the name of tick birds |
