A Complex Life.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20238, 23 February 1934, Page 6

A Complex Life.

Nature Notes.

By

James Drummond,

F.L.S., F.Z.S.

JNSECTS have many disreputable species in their ranks. They can repudiate the ticks. These parasites are related to spiders, not to insects. They are members of the order of the mites. As most mites are so small that they do not catch the eye, many measuring less than a hundredth of an inch, ticks are the giants of the race. The species that has established itself in some North Auckland districts, Haemaphysalis bispinosa. seems to be a mere bloodsucker. It has not been convicted of spreading any disease. Cattle are the principal objects of its hateful attentions, but it has fastened on to horses, occasionally on to sheep and dogs. A single female tick may lay in the earth from 10,000 to 20.000 eggs. On hatching, the young ticks climb plants. With grim patience they wait for a passing animal. As it approaches they become excited and active. They try to attach themselves to its hairs. If successful, they work to the fiesh, cut into it with sharp instruments in their mouth-parts, plunge in their snouts, and gorge themselves with blood, y Their bodies distend .until they can take no more. Usually at that stage they drop to the ground and hide and rest and digest their meals in a torpid condition. Two other great changes take place in their lives. In each stage they follow the same parasitical practices as in the first, in the same way.