64 



NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



subject. The indispensable Compendium of Helminthology, by von 

 Linstow (78), and its appendix (89), lists the recorded parasites, in- 

 cluding- those of birds, up to the year 1889. Considering- the magnitude 

 of the task there are few omissions, and the references enable one to 

 follow the literature of avian ])arasites; but the author does not at- 

 tempt to deal critically with species, giving- only the precise record of 

 each author quoted. It is interesting to siimmarize the records given: 

 nearly one thousand hosts are listed as sheltering- about 2,700 kinds of 

 parasites, many of which, however, are identical species. The numbers 

 for the individual groups are given in the following table: 



Comj)endium up to 1878 Appendix 1878 to 1889 

 Names of Avian Groups No. of No. of No. of No. of 



Used Hosts Parasites Hosts Parasites 



1. Psittaci .30 45 4 5 



2. Coccygomorphae 50 87 27 28 



:!. Pici ' 21 38 5 6 



4. JMacrochires 23 42 5 7 



5. Passerinae 18G 456 79 115 



6. Eaptores 94 360 43 77 



7. Gyrantes 8 14 6 8 



8. Easores 40 112 25 44 



9. Brevipennes 2 5 6 10 



10. Grallae 66 280 35 67 



11. Ciconiae 40 156 19 34 



12. Lamellirostres 51 362 24 43 



13. Steganopodes 12 30 7 14 



14. Longipennes 30 131 18 27 



15. Urinatores 16 103 8 12 



Total 669 2221 311 497 



In two pa])ers.Lonnberg (89 and 90) records with great care the results 

 of extended helminthological studies on the cestodes of Sweden and 

 Norway. A considerable percentage of the hosts examined were birds. 

 In addition to statistical information regarding the parasites morpho- 

 logical data of importance are also included. Eeference should be 

 made in this connection to the admirable manual of Eailliet (93-5) 

 which gives the most complete account available of all the parasites 

 found \a domesticated animals, including also inany associated wild 

 species. Many important references to avian parasites are made in this 

 work. 



Miihling (98) has subjected the birds of Eastern Prussia to careful 

 examination and finds in 445 hosts belonging to eighty-one species about 

 51 per cent infected, a number coincident with that observed here in 

 Nebraska among doiuestic fowls. The full tables of this author are 

 valuable records of the distribution of the jjarasites among the hosts 

 studied; unfortunately he gives no data reg-arding the frequence of 

 infection nor, save in a ver3' general way, of the abundance of the 

 ditferent species of parasites. Volz (99) investigated the prevalence of 



