( 360 ) 



knocked it over with my cap the more hairy tail at once proved it to be a 

 Dipodillxs. 



Fonr of the seventeen species of m.ammals wliich we collected in Algeria did 

 not yield any fleas — namely, two species of bats (out of three), tlie Hedgehog, and 

 the Ele])haiit-slirew. On the other thirteen species we found tliirtcen diftereiit 

 kinds of fleas, of which five are new s[)ecies antl one a new snlispccies. We did not 

 obtain I'ulex iriitaits, Clenocejjkalas canis &v\A felis, and Ceratojili^Uus galliiuie, nor 

 Leptopsylla mmculi and CeratophijHus fasciatux, ■vth'xch all nndoubtedly occur in 

 the coast district, if not farther inland. We found only a single species of bird- 

 flea, which is a new subspecies, althougli we examined a nnmber of nests of varinns 

 kinds. What surprised iis most was the absence of fleas in the sparrows' nests 

 which we took from under the roof of the Bordj at Guelt-es-Stel, some of them 

 being large nests which had apparently been used for years, and which in England 

 would have been full of fringiUae or gallinae. For the ))nrpose of collecting 

 mammals and fleas in Algeria (or elsewhere) the summer would be a more suitable 

 time than the spring, as then both the mammals and their parasites are more 

 plentiful, and tlie fleas in birds' nests have had time to breed and ficcumnlate. At 

 Kheuchela we had sparrows' nests taken down from poplar trees, these nests also 

 proving emjity of parasites. 



Although fourteen different kinds of Siplumaptera * is a very small nnmber 

 for such a large and varied country as Algeria, and certainly represent mnch less 

 than half the species which occur there, the collection is of some general interest 

 as regards the distribution of the Siphonaptera. 



The most striking fact which can be gathered from looking over tlie list of 

 captures is the entire absence of those species on the Hants Plateaux which wo 

 found at Alger and Hammam Rirha, and vice versa. However, further search ou 

 Dipodillus campestris, which we may assume has a flea of its own, may jiossibly 

 lead to the discovery of a species living on the dark coast race as well as ou the 

 lighter-coloured races of the High Plateaux, and the martins' nests may harbour 

 the same species in the Northern districts as on the central plains, and the same 

 may be the case with other mammals, and cs])ecially birds. 



A further point worthy of Ijeing mentioned is the absence of the gems 

 Xenopsglla from the coast districts, while this tropical and subtropical genus is 

 abundant ou the High Plateaux, and, as we know from other sources, also in the 

 Sahara. The now almost cosmopolitan A', che.opis occurs, at least occasionally, 

 on rats in the coast districts (cf. foot-note below). 



The rest of the collection is a curious mixture of forms with either Paliea-cUo 

 or Tropical aflinities. While, however, four of the species are also found in Eurojie, 

 none are identical with tropical forms, apart from Xenopsglla. Ceratopln/lluit 

 lavernni, found on the Hants Plateaux, Tgpldocfras poppei s,l Alger, and Steiwpnnia 

 tripectiitatu as well as IschiwpxijUa aiiipectinata from the Hants Plateaux, occur 

 likewise in Europe, while three other species or subspecies are nearest to European 

 forms, and fonr nearest to species from Egypt or Trojucal Africa. On the whole, 

 the Tropical affinities are predominant in contradistinction to other groups of 



* TothisiiQmlxjr a few other .'species must be ailile<l wM -h wcrecoUictel by tlic Hon. I,. W. HdthsihiM 

 and Dv. E. Hartert on former visits to Algeria in the ncighbjurhood of Bisltra— namelj', I'ariudnntia 

 Tif/gt^nbachi Kotl.s. (1904), Archaiopxylla rrhiacel viaura Jord. & Jloths. (lyil), and CuenopttijUa mint 

 Riftlis. (ISOit). Moreover, Billet reords cfwnph, iii'dtctt^ i , j'luna'ut an 1 rtiitU from rats taken at Alger^ 

 riiilippcville, Hone and Constantine (JSiill. iVc. I'atli. Exat. 1. 2. (1!I08) p. IJIJ. 



