186 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Under the heading of Notes and Exhibition of Specimens, 

 the following were presented: 



A NOTE IN REGARD TO TRICHODECTES HERMSI. 



(Mallophaga; Trichodectidce) 

 BY MAURICE C. HALL, Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Kellogg and Nakayama have recently published in Psyche, 

 v. 22, No. 2, April, 1915, a description of a new species of Tri- 

 chodectes (T. hermsi}, from the goat. The authors of this species 

 say of Trichodectes climax: "It is the only Trichodectes until now 

 found on the domestic goat." It seems safe to assume then that 

 these writers follow Taschenberg in regarding T. limbatus and T. 

 caprce as synonyms of T. climax. It seems, however, that they 

 must have overlooked, at the time of publication, the case of 

 Trichodectes crassipes, for they state in regard to T. hermsi: "It 

 shows more of a resemblance, in shape and markings of head, and 

 general appearance of body to T. peniciUatus than to any other 

 species of the genus, which resemblance, if it suggests any near 

 relationship it probably does not is most extraordinary, as 

 peniciUatus has been recorded only from a kangaroo!" 



The species Trichodectes crassipes was described by Rudow 

 (1866) from the goat. Taschenberg (1882), on an examination 

 of Rudow's material, stated it was identical with T. peniciUatus 

 from the kangaroo. Taschenberg states in comment that if 

 one compares Rudow's and Piaget's figures he will regard this 

 as quite impossible, since Rudow's figures are as inexact as his 

 descriptions are noncommittal. It is interesting to note in this 

 connection that Rudow's T. crassipes from the goat came from 

 the Zoological Garden at Hamburg, and that Paiget's T. peni- 

 ciUatus from the kangaroo came from the Zoological Garden at 

 Rotterdam. While one would be inclined to think under these 

 circumstances that we were dealing with a habitual parasite of 

 the kangaroo accidentally present on the goat, and assume that 

 the parasites of the goat were well known, nevertheless the record 

 of Kellogg and Nakayama suggests that there is, on the contrary, 

 a rather widely distributed goat parasite which has been reported 

 once as an accidental parasite of the kangaroo. 



It would not be safe to say positively at this time that T. 

 hermsi was identical with T. peniciUatus, although a comparison 

 of the figures and descriptions shows only minor differences, but 

 the fact that the resemblance has been noted by the authors of 

 hermsi, and that T. peniciUatus has been reported from the 

 goat and the kangaroo in the opinion of Taschenberg and of 



