Insecta. 193 



501) Reuter, 0. M. und Poppiiis, B., Zar Kenntnis der Termatophyliden. [Hern.] 

 In: Öfversigt af Finska Vetenskaps-Soc. Förhandl., Bd. 54, Afd. A, Nr. 1, 17 S., 

 1911 — 1912. 



Die Verf. geben eine Zu.sammengtellung der bis jetzt bekannten 4 Gattungen mit 

 9 Arten der von Keuter zuerst aufgestellten Heteropteren-Familie Termatophvlid ae, 

 die zwischen den Anthocoriden und Miriden einzureihen ist. 3 Gattungen und 7 Arten 

 werden neu beschrieben. Federley (Helsingfors). 



56*) Kellogg", y. L. (Stanford University), Distribution and species-f orm- 

 ing of ecto-parasites. In: Amer. Natural., Bd. 47, S. 129 — 158, 1913. 

 The Mallophaga or biting bird lice are an interesting group of ecto-parasites 

 found on birds in all parts of the world. In the whole group of about 1500 

 known species, less than a liundred are found on mammals, the remaining species 

 occurring exclusively on birds. With a few exceptions, the Mallophaga of birds 

 belong to distinct families from those on mammals, the change in habitat from 

 featliers to hair having brought about, as a structural adaptation, the loss of 

 one of the two tarsal claws. The Mallophaga are cousidered a distinct order most 

 nearly related to the Psocidae or book-lice. They are divided into two sub-orders 

 on the basis of certain characters of the antennae, each sub-order containing two 

 families. One of those families is in each case two-clawed and occurs almost 

 wholly on birds, the other being one-clawed and occurring only on mammals. 

 The mammals-infesting families include only one genus each, while the two bird- 

 infesting families contain respectively 15 and 10 genera. Nine of the entire 27 

 genera are monotypic, and 16 genera contain less than 10 species each, while 

 four genera contain over 200 species each. 



Each host individual is, biologically cousidered, a small island witli its in- 

 habitants more or less completely isolated; and the writer believes that this Iso- 

 lation has played an important part in species-formation, and especially in the 

 development of many races which might be classed as varieties. But another 

 condition probably operates to prevent a great deal of genus and family making, 

 and that is the relative uniformity of the conditions such as temperature and 

 food, to which the ecto-parasites on all birds are subjected. Though the "islands" 

 are isolated, they are in the same "climate". 



The distribution of parasite species on hosts is of much interest. Thus the 

 South American rheas, the Australian cassowaries and the African ostriches pos- 

 sess several identical parasites, though now so widely separated geographically. 

 A large number of other cases are given. Thus the European and American coots 

 and avocets have respectively five and two Mallophagan species in common. From 

 such facts it is believed that the parasites have been handed down unchanged 

 from a common ancestor, in many cases to birds which are now specifically and 

 even generically distinct. The evolution of the bird-species has therefore pro- 

 ceeded more rapidly than that of their parasites, and Isolation and inheritance with 

 an absence of the necessity for adaptation have been the main features in the 

 evolution of the Mallophaga. Gates (London). 



563) Babäk, E., Pfispövek k fysiologii tracbei a k dychani vubec u dvoj- 

 kridlych [Beitrag zur Physiologie der Tracheen und des Atmens überhaupt bei 

 Zweiflüglern]. In: Biologicke listi, Bd. 1, Heft 5, S. -270—277, 1U12. 



o64) Luudström, Carl, Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Dipteten Finnlands YIII, 

 Supplement 2 Mycetophilidae, Tipulidae, Cylindrotomidae und Limno- 

 biidae. In: Acta Soc. pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, Bd. 36, Nr. 1, 70 S., 7 Taf., 1912. 



Zontralblatt f. Zoologie, allgem. u. experim. Biologie. Bd. 3, 13 



