THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



301 



SOME GENERIC GROUPS IN THE MALLOPHAGAN 



FAMILY MENOPONID^. 



BY G. F. FERRIS, STANFORD UNI\ERSITY, CALIFORNtA. 



The chief interest in the study of the Mallophaga lies in the 

 problem of their distribution, which is beyond question funda- 

 mentally the problem of the relationships of their hosts. It has 

 already been pointed out very clearly by Kellogg and Harrison 



that the solution of 

 the first problem 

 may legitimatelybe 

 used as an aid in 

 the solution of the 

 second; that the 

 student of these 

 parasites may pos- 

 sibly be able to 

 throw some light 

 upon certain ques- 

 tions of the answers 

 to which the orni- 

 thologists are at 

 present in doubt. 

 However, before this happy end can be achieved, it is necessary 

 that the classification of the Mallophaga themselves be placed 

 upon a sound basis, something that, as it is becoming increasingly 

 apparent, has not yet been accomplished. The generic groups 

 that have in the past been recognized are entirely too broad ade- 

 quately to express the needs of the situation. The old genera are 

 for the most part really of family value, and many of them have 

 quite recently been elevated to this rank; but the division of these 

 unwieldly and complex groups into small and compact genera has 

 as yet hardly begun, nor have the limits of many of the groups 

 been accurately defined. It is toward this end that this paper is a 

 slight contribution. 



The two relatively very large genera, Colpocephaliim and 

 Menopon, with a few smaller genera, constitute the family Meno- 

 ponidcB, a family that includes nearly one-fifth of all the known 



September, 1916 



Fig. 10. — Outlines of one side of head of: A, Dennyus distinclus, 



n. s.p.; B, Myrsidea diffusa (Kell,); C, Actornithophilus 



uniserialus (P); D, Heleonomus miandrius (Ke!).). 



