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A List of Anoplura obtained in the Forth Area. 
XIV.—A List of Anoplura obtained in the Forth Area. 
By William Evans, F.R.S.E. 
(Read 24th March 1913. Received 29th September 1913.) 
Last year I laid before this Society a list of Mallophaga (Biting Lice) taken 
in the Forth Area, which has been published in the Proceedings (vol. xviii. 
pp. 265-276). I now submit a list of the Anoplura—the true or sucking 
lice—that have come under my notice. I rather regret, especially as there 
are so few of the latter, not having dealt with the two groups in the same 
paper; but in keeping them apart, I was guided by the widely different 
systematic positions assigned to them in the “Cambridge Natural History,” 
the one being there placed along with the Neuroptera, the other with the 
Hemiptera or bugs. The terms “biting” and “sucking” indicate what has 
been supposed to represent a fundamental difference between them, but the 
recent researches of Mr Eric Mjoberg, not to mention the work of others who 
have touched on the point, do not lend support to this view. His studies, 
he states,! lead him to the conclusion that the Anoplura in their whole 
organisation present external as well as internal similarities with the 
Mallophaga, and must have been derived from a common ancestral form. 
He recognises the moderately near relationship of the Mallophaga to the 
Psocids, a section of the Neuroptera. The classification of the Anoplura 
along with the Hemiptera—never more than a doubtful step—would there- 
fore seem to be no longer tenable. 
There are doubtless a few other species, besides the thirteen here 
recorded, to be found in the district were they diligently sought for. 
Hematopinus (Hoplopleura) acanthopus must, one would think, occur on Field 
and Bank Voles of which we have plenty; yet I have looked for it on a 
number of occasions without success. In these days of “ Economic” Science, 
the geographical distribution of parasites, as well as their range in the matter 
of host, is bound to receive more attention than formerly. While the 
Mallophaga are to be found on mammals as well as birds (their chief hosts), 
the Anoplura are confined to the former. 
Fam. Hematopinide. 
(=Genus Hematopinus, Leach.?) 
Polyplax spinulosa (Burm.)—In May last I found this species in some numbers 
on a Brown Rat (Mus norvegicus =decumanus) at Dalmeny, Linlithgowshire ; 
1 Studien tuber Mallophagen und Anopluren, Arkiv for Zoolog’, Stockholm; Band 6, 
No. 13, 1910, p. 262. I had not seen this paper when I drew up my list of Mallophaga. 
* The old genus Hwmatopinus was split up by Enderlein in 1904 (Zool. Anzeiger) into 
several genera. These Prof. Neumann treats as sub-genera, inserting them in brackets 
between Hwmatopinus and the specific names, thus: Hematopinus (Polyplax) spinulosus, 
Burm., ete. 
