PREFACE 



THE aim of this book is to give in plain language 

 some account of a small, but noteworthy, group 

 of insects. I have avoided, whenever I could, using 

 the technical terms of zoology. To avoid doing so 

 entirely is impossible in a book which describes insects 

 in some detail. No technical term has, I hope, been 

 used without an explanation. 



Over thirty years have elapsed since Taschenberg's 

 German book, Die Flohe, appeared. Our knowledge 

 has made enormous strides since then. More species 

 of flea are now known from the British Islands alone 

 than were then known from the whole world. So far 

 as I am aware, no book, devoted to what is known 

 about fleas, has ever been published in English. 

 The statements about these insects in the general 

 text-books of entomology are frequently antiquated 

 and inaccurate. But there is a fairly extensive 

 literature on the Siphonaptera scattered through 

 scientific periodicals mostly in English, German, 

 Italian, Dutch and Russian. I have given some 

 references in the Bibliography. 



