10 ILLINOIS BIOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS [10 



In 1899 Monticelli recognized that Tetrabothrium gerrardii Baird, 

 a parasite of the Boidae, belonged in this family of cestodes bnt that it 

 should be separated from the species of Proteocephalus, and for this 

 species he proposed the genus Crepidobothrium. In 1903 von Linstow 

 proposed the genus Acanthotaenia to include a spiny headed Proteo- 

 cephalid from Varanus. This genus was later emended by Johnston 

 (1909) who placed three other species in it, all from Varanidae. 



It has been found necessary to restrict the genus Proteocephalus by 

 removing from it the species of amphibian and ophidian Proteocepha- 

 lids. These make a fairly homogeneous group for which the writer 

 proposed the name Ophiotaenia La Rue 1911 with Ophiotaenia perspicua 

 La Rue as the type species. 



SYNONYMY 



Weinland (1858:53) proposed the genus Proteocephalus and named 

 •as its type Taenia ambigua Dujardin. Taenia filicollis and Taenia dis- 

 par were also included under this genus. 



Lonnberg (1894:801-803) proposed the generic name Ichthyotae- 

 nia and listed as members of this genus: I. filicollis Rud., I. ocellata 

 Rud., /. longicollis Rud., /. torulosa Batsch, and /. coryphicephala Mon- 

 ticelli. Since Lonnberg named /. filicollis first in his list that name is 

 to be considered the type of his genus and has been so designated by 

 Hall (1910). Thus he made Ichthyotaenia a synonym of Proteocepha- 

 lus unless T. filicollis Rud. is generically different from T. ambigua 

 (Dujardin). On this point Railliet (1899) says: "Comme cette espece 

 (Taenia ambigua Duj.) rentre nettement dans le genre Ichthyotaenia il 

 est evident que le premier nom (Proteocephalus) doit etre repris." 

 The validity of the names Proteocephalus Weinland or Ichthyotaenia 

 Lonnberg then depends on the species T. ambigua Dujardin and T. 

 filicollis Rud. The first named species was fairly well described and 

 measurements of diagnostic value were given by Dujardin (1845). This 

 species has since been well described and figured by G. Schneider and 

 later by the writer using Schneider's material which agrees almost per- 

 fectly with Dujardin 's description of T. ambigua. 



Taenia filicollis Rud. is not a synonym of Taenia ocellata Rud., and 

 consequently, of Taenia percae Miiller, as Kraemer, Riggenbach, Bene- 

 dict, Railliet, and others have thought. That belief was founded on a 

 mistaken identification by Kraemer (1892). Since Dujardin (1845) 

 there have been but few records of examinations of Gasterosteus. One 

 of these records is by Lonnberg, another by Schneider. They examined 

 Gasterosteus pungitius, while the type host of T. filicollis is Gasterosteus 



