Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
The letter from Dr. Behr, under the caption, “A Californian Tick,” in the August issue of the Canadian Entomologist, bears on a subject becoming fraught with interest to many investigators engaged in public service. It is with the object of stating my crude ideas on the matter, that of serious and exceptional effects sometimes following insect bites, and of relating my experience with man-attacking ticks, that I contribute this note. First, I think that a distinction should be drawn between the sting or bite of insects (I use both “bite” and “insects” broadly) that seek their prey for food only, as mosquitoes, ticks, and bugs, and those whose attack is primarily and purposely to inflict injury, as centipedes, spiders, and many hymenopterous insects. It is with the former class only that I now concern myself.
* Neumann in his monograph does not give extensive ground for separating O. Savignyi and O. tuticata. In this country, natives are known to carry the tick unintentionally with their belongings from place to place. It might easily have been introduced into America with slaves in the last century or earlier, just as negroes, returning to Africa, are said to have introduced here the Jigger Flea (Sarcopsylla penetrans); this latter insect continues to spread, and is now found as far south as Durban, Natal.