292 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The ' Ibis ' list of British Birds. — We are glad to be able to announce 

 the publication of this important list of British Birds, which has been 

 for some time in preparation by a Committee of the British Ornithologist's 

 Union. Since its appointment in May, 1878, this Committee has held 

 seventy-one meetings, and no pains seem to have been spared to settle 

 authoritatively the list of species which have claims to be regarded as 

 British, as well as to decide the specific names which should be employed 

 for each. It is to be hoped that with a view to secure uniformity in 

 nomenclature our readers will henceforth admit the authority of this list, 

 and adopt the nomenclature recommended in it in all future communica- 

 tions to this journal. The list, which extends to over 200 pages, with an 

 excellent index, has been admirably printed by Messrs. Taylor & Francis, 

 and may be obtained of Mr. Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 



Animal Parasites. — At page 219 I observe an extract from ' Nature ' 

 on animal parasites. The two names tick (Ixodes) and " ked " (Melophagus) 

 are frequently used as synonyms, but only in districts where there are no 

 ticks on the sheep. Where both are found the shepherds can, and do, 

 easily distinguish them. The tick has eight legs, the ked six, and the 

 latter never attaches itself to the sheep, but moves freely about amongst the 

 wool; while the former (the female only), after inserting the barbed 

 proboscis, never quits its hold until the abdomen is fully distended with 

 blood and eggs, when it drops off either dead or dying. There is less 

 chance still of confounding the sheep-louse (Pediculus) with the tick. It is 

 a true louse, apparently both rare and local. I have only seen it a few 

 times, but then in great abundance, and always on sbeep that had been 

 in low condition, and after they hud begun to " mend." The extract 

 concludes thus: — " But 1 can remember no instance of an Ixodes found on 

 a sheep, though I would not undertake to say they never occur on that 

 animal." There are large tracts in the pastoral districts of the South of 

 Scotland — in Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, and Dumfriesshire — where ticks 

 are too common on a sheep ; also parts of Galloway, Ayrshire, Lanark, and 

 Argyle. In these districts three species of Ixodes occur on sheep, viz. — 

 /. marginatus, I. erinaceus, and another that I have failed to identify. 

 Can any reader of ' The Zoologist ' inform me if there is any work on the 

 British ticks? as I have hitherto failed in obtaining such. Enclosed are 

 two reports, which will show the importance of the subject.— Andrew 

 Bkotherston (Sheddeu Park Road, Kelso, N.B.). 



[The reports forwarded are extremely interesting, but of too great 

 length to be quoted here. One is a report by a Committee of the Highland 



