174 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



tion fi'om the Gamasidse is their parasitic habits.^- The family, 

 as at present constituted, is divided into two sub-families, the 

 Dermanyssinfe and Halarachnin?^, and they are distinguished 

 from one another by, in the first of these, the presence of an anal 

 plate, and in the latter, the absence thereof. 



These mites are pai'asitic on bats, mice, rats and birds, and 

 some of them have followed their hosts in their travels from 

 place to place, and so have become not only widely distributed, 

 but in some instances, cosmopolitan. Two species of Dermany)<sns 

 have found a home in many lands, and they ai'e recorded below 

 as parasitic on domestic bii'ds. By the uninformed they are fre- 

 quently confused with Bird Lice. Other forms doubtless occur, 

 but none have been described from Australia. 



Genus Dermanyssus, Dugea. 



Dermanyssus GALLiXiE, De Geer. 



Dermanyssua galli7ice, De Geer, Mem. Inst., vii., 177S, p. 11. 



Acarus yallince, De Geer, loc. cit. 



Dei'manyssiis gallinre, Oudem., Tidjs. Voor Entom., xlv., 1902, 

 p. 13, pi. i., f. 2, 3. 



Hosts. — Domestic fowls. 



Hah. — Cosmopolitan ; Australia (inti"oduced). 



Dermanyssus avium, Duges. 



Dermanyssus avium, Duges, Ann. Sci. Nat., (2), i., 1834, p. 18. 



Dermanyssus avium, Murray, Econom. Entom. (n. d.), p. 169, 

 2 f. in text. 



Ho.9its. — Pigeons, canaries, domestic fowls. 



Hab. — Cosmopolitan ; Australia (introduced). 



Obs. — This species has been recorded as occurring on human 

 beings, but it was accidental, and due to the individuals coming 

 into contact with infested birds. It is also recorded that the 

 removal of an infested henroost resulted in the cure of a case of 

 supposed phthiriasis. The subject, a woman, was, but for these 

 pests, clean and healthy. 



1'^ Banks — Loc. cif., p. 59. 



