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FURTHER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE KNOWLEDGE 

 OE THE SIPHONAPTERA. 



BY THE HON. N. C. ROTHSCHILD, M.A., F.L.S. 



(Plates VII.— XVI.) 



Lycopsylla gen. iiov. 



THE front of the head bears a small sinus, which is limited behind by a very 

 distinct tooth (PI. VII. fig. 1). The genal edge of the head is prodnced 

 downwards into a beak-like process as in Hectopsylla. The labial paljius consists 

 of five segments ; the first and third segments are somewhat broader than long ; the 

 tliird, which is not quite twice as long as broad, is a little longer than the fourth 

 and somewhat shorter than the fifth. The mandibles are not distinctly serrate ; 

 in Hectopsylla they are very strongly serrate. The maxillae are long, rather 

 narrow, and obtuse at the apex. The eye is distinct. There are no combs. The 

 seventh abdominal tergite has no apical bristles. The hindcoxa is devoid of the 

 comb of spines which is found in many Palex. The fifth segment of the tarsi is 

 long, and bears on each side six stout spines, besides a thinner subapical bristle, 

 while Hectopsijlla has only four sjiines and a subapical bristle. On the ventral 

 surface of this segment there are two contiguous apical bristles. The claw is long 

 and simple, the basal projection being very small and the oblique striation being 

 absent as in llectopsijUa. The anal segment of the ? is devoid of a stylus. 



This genus is allied to Pulex, but differs markedly in the characters mentioned. 



1. Lycopsylla novus spec. uov. (PI. VII. fig. 1. 2. 3. 4). 



Head. — The head bears on the dorsal surface a great number of short hairs 

 situated in punctnres. There is a row of three long bristles between the eye and 

 the maxillae. The bristles near the hinder edge are short and few in number. 

 The second segment of the antenna is devoid of the regular series of bristles found 

 in Pulex irritans and allies, there being present only a few bristles at the anterior 

 and posterior sides. The first and second segments of the maxillary palpus are of 

 equal length, the third is only half the length, and the fifth is a little longer 

 than the second. The rostrum reaches to the trochanter. 



Thorax. — The bristles of the thorax and abdomen are very thin. The three 

 thoracical segments bear each one row. The mesonotum has in addition two long 

 thin subajjical spines, and the metanotum a few short hairs in the middle. The 

 ej^imernm of the mesothorax bears two bristles, oue at the stigma and the other in 

 front. The epimernm of the metathorax bears also only two bristles, one close to 

 the stigma and the other in the middle towards the ventral edge. 



Abdomen, — The first abdominal tergite bears two rows of hairs, while 

 tergites 'Z to 7 have only one row. The anterior row of the first segment does 

 not extend far down. The stigma stands on segments 2 to 7 below the most 

 ventral bristle, and there is very often a wide interspace between the first and second 

 bristle. The sternite of the second segment bears a patch of three to seven hairs 

 on the side j the following five steruites bear a row of four or five bristles. 



