PREFACE 



Fleas of the United States did not receive the special atten- 

 tion of any entomologist prior to 1895, when Baker's Prelimi- 

 nary Studies appeared. In 1904, this somewhat sketchy paper 

 was followed by the same author's monumental revision of 

 American Siphonaptera, and since then various other authors 

 have contributed many short papers to the knowledge of this 

 interesting group. Yet, in spite of these contributions and the 

 growth of large collections of American fleas in the United 

 States and abroad, no revision of the order as it occurs in this 

 country has been attempted since Baker's great work. Even 

 the faunal lists which play such a prominent part in the litera- 

 ture of other groups are unavailable for nearly all states. This 

 lack of published information is particularly unfortunate in 

 view of the tremendous medical importance of fleas, especially 

 with regard to the increasing concern about their implication in 

 the transmission of diseases other than the bubonic plague. 



Since many of the types of western species are in collections 

 unavailable to the author, this work was necessarily confined to 

 a consideration of the species reported as occurring in the East. 

 Therefore, the keys and diagnoses of larger groups apply to the 

 fleas which inhabit the eastern half of the United States, i.e., 

 the region east of the one-hundredth meridian with the exclu- 

 sion of Texas. Fifty-five species, falling into five families com- 

 prising thirty-three genera, are now known to occur in this 

 area. They parasitize about seventy-five mammalian and avian 

 hosts including man and domestic animals, according to our 

 present knowledge. 



With but few exceptions, the writer has seen specimens of 

 all the eastern fleas, but of the types, for the most part, only 

 those in the United States National Museum have been avail- 

 able to him. All illustrations and descriptions are original ex- 

 cept a few which, because of the inabilny to obtain material, 

 have been adapted from previous publications. 



The material which provided the basis for this work is in 

 various institutions and private collections, but most of it is in 

 the United States National Museum to the authorities of which 

 and to Dr. H. E. Ewing, of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant 



[v] 



