1922.1 247 



(if skins accmnulatod in one quill, and to whose interior there had been 

 no access but through the small orifices mentioned, it would appear that 

 this species of Colpocephalum at least seeks a place of sbelter when 

 about to undergo so important a change as the shedding of its entire 

 skin, similar to what we know takes place with Crustaceans." It is 

 evident that in Denny's quill the infestation had been long established 

 — witness the two apertures. The hundreds of skins are easily under- 

 stood when one remembers that the Harpy Eagle quills are larger than 

 those of the Curlew, Avhile C. flavescens is a much smaller species than 

 that of which I have been speaking. The fact that both parasites are 

 at present placed in Colpoceplialum should not be over stressed, for that 

 genus needs subdividing, and when that is done the two will certainly 

 be apart. 



The note that the Harpy Eagle had been moulting badly, should be 

 compared with what has been said above. As to what portion of the 

 life-history of the parasite is passed in its retreat Denny is cautious. lie 

 thinks it is used at least for the ecydses (c/. supra), but does not discuss 

 the possibility of a longer part of the life-cycle being spent in this 

 curious habitat. I am not aware of any subsequently published paper 

 bearing on Denny's observations nor, after drawing the attention of 

 various students of the Mallophaga to the passage quoted, have more 

 recent instances of similar phenomena, been brought to my notice. 

 During the past twelve years I have only once or twice found flight 

 feathers of raptorial hosts tenanted by Colpocephalum. The habitat is 

 not confined to parasites of Old World forms, for Mr. G. E. Bodkin, 

 17.V.1915, sent to the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, London, a 

 feather of Bostrhamus sociahilis — a small Kite — from Turke3'en, British 

 Guiana, affected in this way. Such cases are probably much commoner 

 than the paucity of i-ecoixis might lead one to suppose, and it is much to 

 be desired that the phenomena outlined above should have more atten- 

 tion given to them, in order that their precise role in the life-history of 

 the species may be properly understood. 



References. 

 ' Yaurkll (W.). Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., Uth Nov. 1837. 

 ^ Denny (H.). Mouographia Anoplurorum Britanuiae, Lou Ion, 1842. 

 '' PiAGET (E.). Tidj. V. Eut. xxxiii. 1888. 



British Museum, Cromwell Road, 



South Kensington, Loudon, S.W, 7. 

 September 1922. 



