376 



PSYCHE. 



[May i8<)6. 



Because of these interesting problems 

 and of the need for a wider observa- 

 tion of the American forms of the 

 group I present this table of the genera 

 of the Mallophaga and a short paper 

 to follow on their habits and distri- 

 bution in the hope of calling the atten- 

 tion of American students to the group. 

 The Mallophaga were divided by 

 Nitzsch into two families, the Philop- 

 teridae with filiform antennae and 

 without maxillary (= labial) palpi, and 

 the Liotheidae with capitate, 4-seg- 

 mented antennae and maxillary ( = 

 labial) palpi. The family Philopteridae 

 included two genera : Trichndectes, 

 with 3-segmented antennae and i- 

 clawed tarsi, and Philopterus with 

 5-segmented antennae and 2-cla\ved 

 tarsi. The latter genus was subdi- 

 vided into the five sub-genera Duco- 

 phorus, Nirmus, Goniocotes, Goniodes, 

 and Lipeurus. The family Liotlieidae 

 similarly included two genera : Gyro-" 

 pus with 1 -clawed tarsi and Liotheum 

 with 2-clawed tarsi. The latter genus 

 was sub-divided into six sub-genera. — 

 Eureum, Laemobothrium, Physosto- 

 mum, Trinoton, Colpocephalum and 

 Menopon. The two i -clawed genera 

 Trichodectes and Gyropus (one belong- 

 ing to each family) were found by 

 Nitzsch exclusively upon mammals; 

 all the other genera exclusively upon 

 birds. In essential identity the classi- 

 fication of to-day is that of Nitzsch ; 

 it differs in discarding the generic 

 groups Philopterus and Liotheum, 

 and in considering the Nitzschian sub- 

 genera as genera, and in the addition 



of several new genera based on species 

 since discovered. 



The change of classification by 

 which the one-time sub-genera of 

 Philopterus are now put on equality 

 with the genus Trichodectes and simi- 

 larly the sub-genera of Liotheum on 

 equality with Gyropus, seems to me 

 ill-advised. The two genera found 

 on mammals differ in so many ways 

 and so radically from their bird-infest- 

 ing -congeners (1) in each family that 

 I believe their striking host and struct- 

 ural differences should be recognized 

 in the classification. I propose, there- 

 fore, in the light of the present 

 ranking of the Mallophaga as an 

 independent order of insects, to rank 

 the Nitzschian families as sub-orders, 

 the Nitzschian genera as families, and 

 the Nitzschian sub-genera, the genera 

 of present-dav writers, as genera. 

 This will leave unchanged the present 

 generic names and ranking, but will 

 restore the expression, first indicated 

 by Nitzsch in his generic groups, of 

 the differences between the mamma- 

 lian parasites and the avian parasites. 

 This re-ranking, which is practically 

 a return to tlie classification of Nitzsch, 

 is adopted in the following synopsis 

 and key wliich I liave arranged to 

 include all the genera so far estab- 

 lished. 



Synopsis of the Order Mallophaga. 



Sub-order Ischnocera. 

 Family Trichodectidae. 



Genus Trichodectes Nitzsch. 



