28o THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



have previously been reported in the Forth Area. — Leonora 

 Jeffrey Rintoul and Evelyn V". Banter, Largo. 



Monomorium pharaonis, L., in Kincardineshire. —In April 

 1909, numerous specimens of this species of Ant were given to the 

 writer by Mr Campbell, Auchinblae, near Fordoun. They had become 

 a regular plague in his business premises, being specially destructive 

 to sugar. The identification is due to Mr Donisthorpe, who tells me 

 that little, unfortunately, can be done to eradicate this pest. — James 

 Waterston, Ollaberry, Shetland. 



Mallophaga from the Ptarmigan. — Through the kindness 

 of Dr Harvie-Brown I had an opportunity in the end of October 

 of examining two Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) from Inchnadamph, 

 Sutherlandshire, and from them obtained a fair number of Mallo- 

 phaga belonging to two species — a Nirmus (69) and a Goniodes 

 (39). So far as I am aware, no Mallophagan parasite has 

 hitherto been recorded from the Ptarmigan in this country. In 

 his Anoplurorum Britannia (1842), Denny says of Nirmus 

 cameratus, N., "Common upon the Red Grouse and Black 

 Grouse, and I suspect also upon the Ptarmigan " ; and of Goniodes 

 tetraonis, D., " Common upon both the Black and Red Grouse ; 

 upon the Willow or Hazel Grouse (Tetrao saliceti) I find a similar 

 but distinct species, rather broader in the abdomen, and of much 

 darker colour. What infests the Ptarmigan I have never been able 

 to ascertain." Grube, in Middendorf's Siberian Reise (185 1), 

 records Nirmus cameratus from Lagopus albus ( = saliceti) and 

 Z. alpinus at Boganida, and Goniodes tetraonis from Z. albus at 

 Boganida and Z. alpinus at the Taimyrsee. Z. alpinus (Nils.) is a 

 synonym of Z. mutus (Montin), but the Ptarmigan met with by 

 Middendorf in these northern districts of Siberia are more likely to 

 have been Z. rupestris (the Rock-Ptarmigan) than true Z. mutus. 

 Compared with specimens of Nirmus cameratus from Red Grouse 

 — and also from the Black Grouse — my Nirmi from the Ptarmigan 

 differ so far as I see only in being darker and greyer, with the 

 marginal lines almost black. As the difference, however, is 

 probably constant, I venture to designate them N. cameratus, 

 Nitzsch, var. nigrescens. The Goniodes agree so well with G. 

 tetraonis, Denny, from Red and Black Grouse, that I unhesitatingly 

 identify them with that species. In them also the markings are on 

 the dark side, but not more so than in some examples from the other 

 birds. Since writing the above I have found similar specimens on 

 an Inverness-shire Ptarmigan kindly submitted to me by Mr T. 

 Speedy. — William Evans. 



