G. F. Ferris

The Mallophagan Family Trimenoponidae

Three species of two-clawed Mallophaga have heretofore been recorded from South American mammals. Concerning one of these species, Menopon extraneum Piaget, nothing is known aside from the information included in the original description and, judging from this and the accompanying figure, it appears not to differ from the usual type of bird-infesting members of this group. The other two species have each been made the type of a genus and these two genera have been considered by Harrison as representing a well-marked family, the Trimenoponidae .

On Two Species of the Genus Halarachne (Acarina; Gamasidae)

It would appear from casual references in literature that the seals and their relatives are quite commonly infested with certain mites which occur in the nasal passages or even in the bronchial tubes. Although there are several such references, apparently in but three have the mites been named. In these three cases they have been referred to the Gamasid (or Dermanyssid) genus Halarachne . The first species, Halarachne halichoeri Allman, from Halichoerus gryphus , an Atlantic seal, was described in 1847; the second, H. americana Banks, from Monarchus tropicalis , which is also an Atlantic species, was described in 1896; the third, H. otariae Steding, from Otaria californica (which is known to American mammalogists as Zalophus cali-fornianus ), was described in 1923. The specimens upon which this last species was based were obtained in Germany, although the host is a native of the west coast of North America.

The Mallophagan Family Menoponidae. Part I.

Material examined . A male and a female from Ramphastos brevicarinatus , Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone, collected by Mr J. Van Tyne of the University of Michigan, through whose kindness I have been enabled to examine them. The species was originally described from “probably Ramphastos tocard ” (which is R. brevicarinatus ) from Colombia. My material agrees with the original description and is probably correctly identified, although, as will be further considered, another species of the same genus occurs upon toucans.