64 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Docophorus fusco-ventralis Osborn. 



Insects Aflfectiug Domestic Animals, 1896, Bull. 5, N. S., Div 

 of Ent., a. S. Dept. of Ag., p. 221. 



One specimen from an Ash-throated Flycatcher, 

 Myiarchus cinerascens (Palo Alto, California). Osborn's 

 specimens were from the Wood Pewee, Contoi^us virens 

 (Cornell University Collection; Burnett Collection). 



Agrees well with Osborn's description, except that the 

 fuscous coloration of ventral aspect is in broad trans- 

 verse bands separated by distinct, paler sutural bands, 

 instead of being "beneath uniformly dark brown." 



Docophorus communis, (See Kellogg, New Mallophaga, 



II, 1896, p. 486, pi. Ixvi, fig. 7). 



Under this name we group together a large number 

 of very similar forms; or if dissimilar, forms con- 

 nected by gradatory specimens. These forms are taken 

 from passerine birds and belong to Piaget's group 

 femorati (Les Pediculines, p. 53), characterized by the 

 large truncate or feebly convex or weakly emarginated 

 clypeus, with long hair in each anterior angle, by the 

 especially large third pair of legs, and by the conspic- 

 uous pustulated hairs of the thorax and abdomen. 

 The marked variation (notably in size of hindmost 

 legs) among individuals from a single bird specimen 

 (let alone bird species) and the series of gradatory forms 

 connecting all the variations manifest in the group 

 make it impossible for us to attempt to distinguish dif- 

 ferent species in this mass of material. Piaget has, 

 indeed, attempted to define half a dozen varieties of 

 communis, but in no very confident manner. The 

 group femorati can furnish time-killing work for any 

 student bold enough to undertake its discipline. 



Docophori of this group, referable to the species com- 

 munis, in its widest sense, have been determined by us 



