Mnnlh-pn) Is III a Sficcifs of 1V)1\ plax. li'iT 



7'e/i-i'p/it/uiliniis lidin (IMagct), wliii-Ii is foiiiMi tiruily atf:iclM'(l 

 1)V iiu-aiis ot" its j)(>\vt>i tul tndt'ntato inauilihlcs to the skin ol' 

 the Pelican's pouch, lives on hlood ; a transition tVoni hair- 

 ancl feather-feetlinj^ to j^nawin;^ at the epidermis of the skin 

 is easily conceived, wiicn, as soon as blood is extravasated, 

 it becomes a comparatively short jiim|) for the iina<rination 

 to fi<^ure how a compleic chan;^c in feedin^-lial)its came 

 about. 



In re<;ard to the mouth- |)arts ot" the Anoplura with which 

 this note more particularly deals, it was almost to be 

 expected that a careful search would reveal traces of their 

 mandibulate ancestry. Enderlein, already in 1904*, likened 

 two lateial piccts within the proboscis of JLrmalopiniis siiift 

 (Ij.), Jjcach (from the l*i<i), to the mandibles of Corixa, a 

 lleleropterous bufjj. Enderlein regards the Anoplura as a 

 sul)order of the Khynchota. But the pieces in the proboscis 

 of Aictophthirus tr'n'Iieci\ Boh., described and figured by 

 Mjoberg in tlie pajier already nameil bear a direct resemblance 

 to the mandibles of Mallo[)lia<^a rather than to those of 

 Corijco, which are remarkable in form and have a peculiar 

 basal piece. Moreover, in a species of Folijphix from an 

 Ej:yptian host — Acomys cahirinus, De.'J., — about to be 

 described under tlie name P. oxyrhynchus, there are two 

 chitinous structures lyino; together behind the pliarynx 

 [htri/nj- of Enderlein), which are quite probably man- 

 dibles, anil closely resemble those figured by ]\Ijober_c:, 

 i. e. each lies with ils narrow end pointing inwards and a 

 teiidoi.-like strip of chitin runs back from the ba>e i £ the 

 ])OSterior lateral angle. The mouth-parts of the louse form, 

 of course, an almost classical problem in morpholoii:y, and 

 many authors, from Swamnierdam to 8ehioJte and after, 

 have tackled it with varying success. The inherent difficul- 

 ties in dissecting the proboscis probably onstitute the reason 

 why we still lack any very seiilcd vitiw.s on its structure and 

 morphology, and the sugge.-tions put forward hero are there- 

 fore to be regarded as the advertisement of problems to bo 

 solved rather liian as definite solutions. 



In another species — to be called Folijpa.r; hracliyrhynclius — 

 froni tlie same host, a siill more interesting structure was 

 found on the under smtace of the head in front of the pharynx 

 and just behintl the mouth-o|)ening. 



A jilanee at tig. 1 (p. 258) is sutticient to suggest at once 

 to a student of the Mallophaga the well-known oesophageal 

 sclerite and "glands" which form a prominent feature in the 



• Zool. Anz., Ikl. xxviii. I'.MM. ^y. li'l 117. 



