272 Records oj the Jnciinii Miiseii))i. [V'oi,. Ill, 



phylogeiietically spcakinj^, taken the important step from periodical 

 blood-sucking to parasitism for life. They form a well characterised 

 family, Polyctenida.', which must be ])laced close by the side of 

 the Acanthiada> (Cimicida^). 



Of the genus Polvdcncs , Gigl., seven species are known u]) to 

 date : - 



P. inolossus, Gigl., " from the Chinese Molossus," from Amoy. 

 /'. IvrcB, Waterh., from Megaderma lyra, from Secunderabad 



(Madras Presidency). 

 P. intcniv'dius, vSpeiser, from Tapliozoiis perforatus , from 



Egypt. 

 P. till pa, Speiser, from Mcgader)iia spasiiui , ly., from Nias. 

 P. spas nice , Waterh., from the same bat, from Java. 

 P. longiccps, Waterh., from Molossus ahrasus, Temm. , from 



Cajabon in Guatemala. 

 P. fuiiiarius, \Vestw. , from Molossus rufus var. obscurus, 

 Geoffr., from Jamaica. 



These seven species were described each from two specimens 

 only, and besides these typical specimens there were found ver}- 

 few others; as far as I know, there are two more specimens of 

 P. inter meditts , mihi, and two American ones in museums. 



The nineteenth specimen of this rare famih", which ^^■as found 

 by Dr. N. Annandale in November, 1908, at Trivandrum in Travan- 

 core on a specimen of Cynoptenis marginatus in the local museum , 

 seems to be the most interesting one except those first known. 

 It belongs most probably to my P. ialpa. It is not, however, a 

 mature insect, but a nymph. 



If we compare the drawings given by former authors, the 

 new specimen seems to belong to P. lyres, which is to be placed as 

 a close ally, for it has, like this species, no ctenidia on the 

 '' elytra." The elytra, on the other hand, are longer than in 

 P. spasnicp, the other species with which it must be compared 

 particularly. The outline of the thorax agrees better with that of 

 this latter species, but the bristles of the abdomen are in their 

 arrangement quite different from those of any other form. A 

 more detailed examination under the microscope showed that 

 within the skin of this individual, which has no ctenidia on the 

 thorax or on the el^^tra, was hidden as in its njmiphal skin a ne\\ 

 stage, which has such ctenidia on the thorax and on the elytra. 

 For this reason the specimen cannot belong to P. lyres, because 

 that species has elytra without ctenidia while in a stage at which 

 the thorax is alread}^ provided with its ctenidium. Of course it 

 ma}' be that the new individual is the connecting stage between 

 P. spasmcB and P. talpa, which inhabit the same host. Then 

 P. spasmce would be the larval stage, the new specimen the nymph 

 and P. talpa the full-grown insect. Be this as it may, it is now m>- 

 duty to descr.be the peculiarities of the specimen from Travancore . 

 which belongs certainly to the same species as P. talpa , mihi. 



In the head and its appendages no peculiarity can be found 

 except that the bristle at the hind angles of the dorsal surface is 



