1933 ] 
Notes on Hippoboscidx 
105 
Olfersia fossulata Macquart 
Originally described from Brazil, this species is widely 
distributed in South America. I have seen it from Desecheo 
Island (near Porto Rico), Peru (near Lima, as well as on 
the Guano Islands), and Chile. Seven specimens from the 
Philippine Islands undoubtedly belong to this species. The 
chief hosts are certain tropical marine birds, such as the 
Peruvian Cormorant or Guanay, Phalacro corax bougain- 
villei (Lesson) ; Belcher’s Gull, Larus belcheri Vigors; the 
White Gannet, Sula variegata (Tschudi) ; and the Pelican, 
Pelecanus thagus Molina. These four birds nest in enor- 
mous numbers on the Guano Islands off the coast of Peru, 
where 0 . fossulata often swarms in the rookeries, even over 
bare rocks. 
Olfersia coriacea van der Wulp 
Pseudolfersia meleagridis Lutz, Neiva and da Costa Lima 
I regard as a synonym. Thus far I have seen 0. coriacea 
from southern Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, British Guiana, 
Bolivia and Brazil. Its hosts are various wild gallinaceous 
birds, notably the Crested Curassow, Crax globicera (Lin- 
naeus). The species has been discussed in an earlier paper 
[1932, Psyche, XXXVIII, (1931), p. 1861. It was then sug- 
gested that Olfersia mexicana Macquart might be the same ; 
but, according to information recently received from Mr. E. 
Seguy, Macquart’s type in the Paris Museum is apparently 
a specimen of Ornithoctona erythrocephala (Leach). On 
the other hand, Mr. J. E. Collin writes me that the speci- 
men called “Olfersia mexicana ” in Bigot’s collection is a 
true Olfersia and not separable from O. bisulcata Macquart. 
The following names and descriptions evidently were 
based upon species of Olfersia. Most probably they are 
synonyms of one or another of the forms studied above. 
Olfersia aenescens C. G. Thomson, from Keeling Island, 
off an unknown host. The type is at the Stockholm 
Museum. According to Speiser, who saw the specimen, the 
postvertex is not divided by a transverse depression. I 
suggest that it was O. fossulata Macquart. 
Olfersia mycetifera (Speiser), from Senafir, on the Afri- 
can shore of the Red Sea, off an Eagle. Most probably this 
was 0. fumipennis (Sahlberg) . 
