20 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Order Sip/iofiaptera, Latr.* 

 1798. Schellenberg, Helvetische Entom. I., p. 15. (Rophoteira.) 

 1801. Lamarck, Syst. d. Anim. s. Vert., p. 313 (Aptera.) 

 1805. Latreille, Hist. nat. des Crust, et des Insect. XIV. (Suctoria.) 



1825. Latreille, Fam. nat. du Regne Animal. (Siphonaptera.) 



1826. Kirby and Sperice, Introd. to Entom. IV. (Aphaniptera.) 

 1829. Stephens, Cat. Brit. Insect. (Pulicidi*?.) 



 Wings entirely absent ; mouth parts suctorial ; maxillary palpi four- 

 jointed ; + labrum and clypeus wanting ; eyes, when present, two in 

 number and simple; antennae three-jointed; tarsi five-jointed. Meta- 

 morphosis complete, larva footless, with a well-developed head. 



Table of Families. 



Small fleas with a proportionally very large head ; thoracic rings very 

 narrow ; pregnant female a stationary parasite, with abdomen worm-like 

 or spherical ; labial palpi one-jointed ; third joint of antennte without 

 transverse incisions ; no " combs " of spines on head, thorax, or abdo- 

 men ; eyes present ; species tropical or subtropical .... Sarcopsyllidce. 



Larger fleas with a proportionally small head ; thoracic rings broad ; head, 

 pronotum, or abdomen often with " combs " of spines ; antennal 

 grooves sometimes covered on the outside by a chitinous scale- 

 antennae with terminal joint transversely creased, or cleft into lamellae 

 on one side ; eyes sometimes absent ; species widely distributed. 



Labial palpi with more than ten joints ; abdomen in pregnant female 

 becoming so swollen as to lose its original shape Vertnipsyllidce. 



Labial palpi three to five-jointed ; never a stationary parasite, and never 

 with the abdomen so swollen that the original form is lost.. .Pulicidce. 



Fam. Sarcopsyllidce, Tschb. 



1880. Taschenberg, Die Fluhe, p. 43. 



Table of Genera. 



Head angulated above in front ; maxillfe very small, scarcely projecting ; 

 abdomen of pregnant female spherical with sutures obsolete. 6'a/r^/.r)'//^. 



* Rophoteira, in part ; aptera, in part ; suctoria, pre-occupied, 

 t Packard, in a late paper (Proc. Bost. Soc, Nat. Hist., XXVI., Sept., 1S94, pp. 

 312-355), follows some of the old authors in calling the maxillary palpi five-jointed (1. c. 

 p. 348). I cannot see the reason for reiterating statements that have been proven in- 

 correct. In the near future, I will review those portions of this paper which seem to be 

 original. 



