364 Transactions. 



LlOTHEIDAE. 



Menopon sp. 



Among the parasites collected from the European starling (Stumus 

 vulgaris Linn.) are specimens of a Menopon similar to some which we have 

 ourselves collected from the same host in New South Wales, but which 

 do not agree with any Menopon described from the starling that we can 

 trace. As it seems somewhat improbable that what is apparently a 

 common parasite of an extremely common bird should have eluded obser- 

 vation, we have deferred consideration of this species until we are dealing 

 with our New South Wales material, in order to allow of a further search. 



Colpocephalum timidum Kellogg (1896, p. 145, pi. 12, fig. 6). 



One male and a few females from Charadrius dorninicus Mull. This 

 species has previously been taken by Kellogg from the same host in Kansas. 

 U.S.A., and also from Squatarola squatarola Linn, from California (1899, 

 p. 112). Kellogg gives the breadth of the female as 0-37 mm., which is 

 evidently a misprint, as our specimens measure from 0-58 mm. to 0-64 mm. 



The male, which is apparently undescribed, resembles the female, with 

 the exception that the angles of the abdominal segments project a little 

 more prominently, and the last segment is more bluntly rounded. Length. 

 1-65 mm. ; breadth, 0-52 mm. 



Ancistrona procellariae Westwood (1874, p. 197). 



Syn.. Ancistrona gigas Piaget {1885, p. 117), Kellogg (1896, p. 150, 

 and 1899, p. 116). 



One individual referable to the genus Ancistrona was found upon 

 Pelagodroma marina. Two species have been described under this genus ; 

 the type, A. procellariae. by Westwood from a Daption capense presented 

 by Messrs. E. Brown and Baird to the Hope Museum, Oxford. No locality 

 is given, but it may be assumed that the bird in question formed part 

 of an Antarctic collection, as Baird described parasites from Antarctica. 

 Piaget described a second species, A. gigas, from a Proeellaria collected 

 on the Barendts north polar expedition. We have a separate copy of 

 the paper containing his original description, but it bears no date, and no 

 indication as to the periodical in which it originally appeared, and we have 

 been unable to trace a reference to it in any bibliography of the group 

 accessible to us. The date may be fixed roughly as 1883-84, as the paper 

 in question follows immediately on another by the same author, criticizing 

 the " Die Mallophagen " of Taschenberg, which was published in 1882. 

 The original description is, however, reproduced verbatim by Piaget in his 

 Supplement (1885, p. 117), and this reference is given by Kellogg (1896. 

 p. 150 ; 1899, p. 116 ; 1908, p. 75) for the original account, 



Piaget gives a detailed description of his type, but does not particularize 

 any characters by which it differs from A. procellariae Westwood, except 

 its larger size. His own words are, " L'espece se rapproche generique- 

 ment de 1' A. procellariae de M. Westwood, mais en differe specifiquement. 

 surtout par les dimensions. Seulement la description donnee par le 

 savant entomologue est trop sommaire pour permettre une comparaison 

 detaillee." 



Westwood gives the length of his species as 2| lines (roughly, 5J mm.), 

 while Piaget gives his as 6 mm., so that the difference in size is only f mm 



