ON ISCHNOCERA PARASITIC UPON BRITISH GROUSE loi 



ON THE ISCHNOCERA (BIRD LICE OR MALLO- 

 PHAGA) PARASITIC UPON BRITISH GROUSE. 



By James Waterston, B.D., D.Sc, F.E.S., F.Z.S., Assistant- 

 Keeper in the Department of Entomology, British Museum. 



{Published by permission of tJie Trjistees of the British Museum^ 



Having recently had occasion to determine some biting 

 lice from the Spitsbergen Ptarmigan, I found it impossible 

 to settle what names to employ without taking into account 

 all the descriptions of Mallophaga recorded from PaLtarctic 

 and Nearctic Grouse. It seems worth while to embody the 

 results of this investigation, so far as they concern British 

 Grouse, in a short paper, since considerable confusion has 

 up to the present existed, not merely as to the correct 

 names of the parasites involved, but about the insects 

 themselves. The present paper, however, does not, unless 

 incidentally, enter into questions of synonym.y, though it 

 is hoped that this will be done fully elsewhere. An 

 opportunity will also be taken later of referring to the 

 chief morphological characters of the species under 

 review. 



Hitherto at most five species (or five with a variety) 

 of Grouse Ischnocera have been recognised in Britain. An 

 examination of my material, which has been accumulating 

 since 1909, leaves no doubt that there are seven species 

 to reckon with. Of these the Lipeunis, Nitzsch (i sp.) and 

 the Goniodes, Nitzsch (3 spp.) do not differ sufficiently from 

 their respective genotypes, so far as I can at present judge, 

 to warrant further subdivision. The remaining three species 

 (which have been variously referred to Lipenrus, Nitzsch ; 

 Goniocotes^ Burmeister ; or Ninmis, Nitzsch nee Hermann) 

 form a compact group easily recognisable by the rounded 

 head, widened behind the eyes, flattened mesosome, free 

 penis in the male, etc., and to these I have given generic 

 rank under the name Lagopoeciis. 



