1^8 FLEAS, FLUKES AND CUCKOOS 



lice. A "new" species is described from a hawk, which in reaUty is a 

 straggler from a wader, shot at the same time and put in the same 

 collecting bag. If the original description is inadequate a .^pecies of wader 

 louse appears in the literature, the host of which may never be found, 

 and which naturally baffles the expert. It is hke expecting an ornitho- 

 logist to identify an exotic finch from an inadequate description 

 coupled with the information that it was obtained in England — where 

 its presence was solely due to an aviary door having been left open. 

 Thus, there is a great deal of work to be done in the interpretation of 

 the old names and the accurate re-description of these species, before 

 many of the British Mallophaga can be named or descriptions of new 



species made. 



The general classification of the Mallophaga has already been out- 

 lined (p. 139), and we can now discuss, in rather more detail, how this 

 can be applied to the feather hce found on British birds. It must be 

 emphasised that, for the reasons already considered, the present classi- 

 fication is far from satisfactory and will need drastic modification as our 

 knowledge of the group becomes more extensive. 



As we have seen, the suborder of the Mallophaga is divided into two 

 superfamilies : the Amblycera and Ischnocera. 



Reference has been made in the preceding pages to these two 

 superfamilies, and it will have become apparent that they show 

 considerable differences in habit and form (Plate XXII). The Ambly- 

 cera, as we have seen, show less diversity in structure and are divided 

 into a smaller number of families and genera. There are three families 

 of Amblycera found on British birds, the Laemobothriidae, Ricinidae 

 and Menoponidae. 



The Laemobothriidae are represented in this country by one genus, 

 Laemobothrion, found on hawks. This genus contains the largest of the 

 Mallophaga, and at the present time has only been taken from the 

 kestrel although from non-British records it is known to parasitise other 

 hawks on the British list. 



The Ricinidae is also represented in this country by only one genus, 

 Ricinus (Plate XXIII) restricted to passerine birds of which the robin 

 and the chaffinch are the common hosts. It is the largest of the species 

 found on this group of birds, and the comparatively large shiny white 

 eggs can often be seen in great numbers on the feathers of the neck and 



throat. 



The Menoponidae (Plate XXIIa) contains a number of genera. 



