14 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



X 



Nirmus furvus Nitzsch. (Plate II, fig. 1). 



Zeitschr. f. ges. Naturwiss. (ed. Giebel), 1866, vol. xxviii, 

 p. 374. 



Nirmus furvus N., Bnrmeister, Haudb. d. Ent., 1832, vol. ii, p. 427; 

 Giebel, Insecta Epizoa, 1874, p. 163, pi. v, figs. 2 and 3; Piaget, 

 Les Pediculines, 1880, p. 169, pi. xiv, fig. 3; Supplement, 18S5, 

 p. 25; Osborn, Insects Afifecting Domestic Animals, Bull. 5, 

 N. S., Div. of Ent., U. S. Dept. Ag. 1896, p. 225. 



A male and a female from the Spotted Sandpiper, 

 Aditis macularia (Panama). My specimens do not pos- 

 sess the median longitudinal uncolored line across the 

 first six or seven segments of the abdomen, as described 

 for the types of the species, and besides, are very much 

 darker, and are without distinct lateral transverse 

 blotches on the abdominal segments. They are, too, a 

 distinctly wider and less slender form, the head aver- 

 aging nearly one-fifth wider in both sexes. However, 

 in the present uncertain status of the species furvus 

 (see Piaget, Les Pediculines, p. 170) I refer my speci- 

 mens to the species, distinguishing them by a varietal 

 name. Piaget's variety alpha (Supplement, p. 25) from 

 Vanellus cayensis has, like my specimens, no uncolored 

 median abdominal line, but no reference is made to any 

 such characteristic dark chestnut to smoky general col- 

 oration of the body, as is shown by my specimens. 

 Osborn's specimen is from Phalaropus tricolor (Museum 

 Iowa Agricultural College). 



Var. ravus Kellogg. Male, body, length 1.18 mm., 

 width .34 mm.; head, length .37 mm., width .28 mm. 

 Female, body, length 1.43 mm., width .37 mm.; head, 

 length .40 mm., width .31 mm. Both sexes dark chest- 

 nut-brown to smoky, without median uncolored line on 

 any abdominal segment, and without distinct abdom- 

 inal blotches. 



