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ON SOME NONDESCRIPT ANOPLURA AND MALLOPHAGA. 



By Bruce F. Gumming s. 

 {Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



The following notes and descriptions are based on material in the collection of 

 the British Museum : — 



ANOPLURA. 

 Subfamily, Linognathinae. 

 Genus, Polyplax, Enderlein. 



Polyplax pectinata, sp. nov. 



This parasite approaches Neumann's Haematopinus {Polyplax) maniculatus, but 

 is immediately recognised by the truncate proboscis, by the " olecranon process " 

 of the hind pair of legs, and by the remarkable " comb " which terminates the 

 abdomen of the Q . Perhaps a new genus should be made to receive it. 



Linear, abdomen about four times the length of the head and thorax together. 

 Head very broad, proboscis truncate, its lateral margins diverging to as far as 

 the antennae, behind which the head enlarges at right angles. Post-antennal 

 area rectangular, broad ; the occipital margin a little convex. At each posterior 

 angle a long hair ; on the under surface, at about the level of the antennae, two 

 short bristles, one on each side. Antennae of five segments, the first being thick 

 and stout, the second narrower and the longest, the third short, and the fourth 

 broad with a sharp prominence at the post-axial distal corner. Adjoining the 

 prominence a small circular sense-organ which crosses the joint and occupies part 

 of the base of the terminal segment. The latter is longer than the third or 

 fourth, and has several spines at the end. Thorax broader than the head and 

 broader behind than in front. A large flattened spheroidal spiracle at each 

 lateral margin. Sternal plate piriform. The first pair of legs much shorter and 

 more slender than the rest, the coxae inserted almost longitudinally. In the third 

 pair, the coxae are very large and broad, separated by an interval from the two 

 anterior pairs of coxae. The third femur bears an " olecranon process " in the 

 form of a broad scalloped plate on the post-axial margin. This curves down- 

 wards and the concave side of the plate shows radiating lines or grooves. The 

 third pair of claws are broad, rounded plate-like. Abdomen very long, broader 

 than thorax. Dorsal and ventral surfaces with transverse rows of widely spaced 

 hairs, more than one row to each segment. Pleurae large, broad, on the lower 

 margin deeply cleft, with two bristles in the fork of the cleft. In the c? the 

 eighth pair of pleurae are very long, the lower margin of each extending in two 

 long pointed processes or limbs beyond the end of the last segment ; there are 

 two long bristles in the fork of the cleft. In the Q the processes of the eighth 

 pair of pleurae are longer than the others, but thev do not extend beyond the end 

 of the abdomen. The hind margin of the terminal tergite in the Q is peculiar, 

 being drawn out into a frill or comb of long finger-shaped processes, each of 

 which is surmounted by a long bristle. Last segment in cS conical, truncate at 



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