190 MONOGRAPHIA 



5. TRICHODECTES DUBIUS. (Louse of the Weasel and 



Stoat.) 



Plate XVII. Fig. 2. 



Head and thorax fulvous-yellow; clypeus acutely pro- 

 duced on each side ; abdomen pale yellow-white, nearly 

 quadrate. 



Trichodectes dubius. Mtzsch. Germ. Mag. iii. p. 296. Pediculus 

 Mustelse. Schrank. Faun. Boica. 



Head small, sub-rotundate ; clypeus produced, emargi- 

 nate,with two dark fasciae in the centre, acutely angular before 

 the antennae, lateral margin sinuated, with a dark diagonal 

 band extending from the anterior to the occiput, base rotun- 

 date ; antennae short and thick, the first joint short and 

 conical, second long, obconical, third short ; prothorax as 

 wide as the head, transverse ; metathorax short, much wider 

 than the head, base sinuated and sub-angular ; abdomen 

 nearly quadrate, with an impressed line down each side ; 

 legs thick, pale yellow ; tibiae very abruptly clavate, the 

 posterior nearly angular, and armed with several strong 

 spines. Length J. 



Nitzsch in his article in Germar's Magazine, " Die fami- 

 lien und Gattungen der Thierinsekten," enumerates a spe- 

 cies of Trichodectes under the specific name of dubius 

 between parenthesis., as infesting the Weasel ( Mustela 

 vulgaris) ; whether he had doubts as to its specific iden- 

 tity, from the T. retusus infesting the Common Martin 

 (Mustela Foina), I know not, never having seen the 

 latter. I have therefore retained the above name, having 

 no alternative, but either to do this or give it a fresh one, 

 To make it identical with the retusus, I could not for the 

 reason before stated. Sir Wm. Jardine forwarded me spe- 

 cimens from the Weasel, and P. J. Selby, Esq. from the 

 Stoat (Mustela Erminea), from both of which animals I have 

 also taken it myself. 



