BIRD-rARASITES AND BIRlJ-PHYLOGENY 53 



The family Gonioclidae, of Mallophaga, is found solely upon 

 Fowls, Tinamous, Pigeons, Opisthocomus, and Penguins, all 

 of which groups agree in the absence of Philopteridse. The 

 first four are now usually admitted to be related, but parasitic 

 evidence would appear to demand the same affinity for the 

 Penguins. Parasites of the Palamedeidae link up with those 

 of Ducks, Geese, and Swans, thus confirming the Anserine 

 affinities of this somewhat anomalous group. The Parridae 

 would appear to be Rails, not Limicolines ; and the Aptery- 

 gidae more nearly akin to the Rails than to any other 

 living birds." 



In his ensuing remarks ])»Ir Harrison attempted to indicate 

 a natural classification of the Petrels by means of their 

 parasites of the genus Lipeunis, and showed that on this 

 basis these birds fall into six well-marked groups. The 

 arrangement he thus obtained agreed, he said, very well with 

 that proposed by Forbes in vol. iv. of the CJiallenger 

 Reports, with some minor exceptions. The summary of his 

 paper concludes with the following sentence : — " The Mallo- 

 phaga require to be much more assiduously collected and 

 studied before more general statements can be made, and it 

 is hoped that ornithologists, when collecting specimens, will 

 pay more attention to the preservation of these minute 

 parasites, especially in the case of rare birds and those of 

 doubtful affinities." With this suggestion we heartily concur, 

 but we would especially emphasise the need of the utmost 

 care in carrying out his wishes. The possibility of the 

 interchange of parasites while the birds are lying in the 

 game-bag must be absolutely avoided, and this can only be 

 done either by taking the parasites off each specimen 

 immediately after death, or if this is not practicable, con- 

 fining each bird (or at least species of bird) in a separate 

 bag. If these points are not rigidly attended to, then the 

 parasites obtained are worse than useless for the purposes 

 indicated in the above paper. 



Mr Harrison was followed by Mr Bruce Cummings, a 

 well-known authority on the Mallophaga. He laid stress on 

 the care with which the phylogenetic test should be applied, 

 and pointed out that two important factors must be borne in 



