18 Fleas of Eastern United States 



Eastern hosts. House-mouse ("Mus domestica") , House-rat 

 (Rattus norvegicns (Erxleben) ) , Roof-rat ("Rattus alexan- 

 drinus") , Black Rat {"Rattus rattus") , Cotton-rat (Sigmodon 

 hispidus hispidus Say and Ord) , "Cottontail Rabbit," "Man." 



Eastern localities. District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, 

 Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, 

 Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 

 Rhode Island, Virginia. 



Type material. A large series of both sexes from Shendi, 

 Egypt, on "Acomys witherbyi," "Gerbillus robustus," "Arvican- 

 this testicularis," "Dipodillus watersi," "Dipus jaculus," and 

 "Genetta dongolana" in the N. C. Rothschild Collection (British 

 Museum) . 



This species resembles in superficial structure Pulex irritans 

 Linnaeus, but may be distinguished readily from it by the 

 arrangement of the head bristles, the presence of a divided 

 mesosternite, and the character of the genitalia. These points 

 of difference are illustrated in Plate V. 



By far the most important species in our fauna from the 

 medical standpoint is the oriental rat flea which is known to 

 transmit bubonic plague and endemic typhus fever, and is 

 suspected of being among the transmitters of the causative 

 agents of several other diseases. For many years it was known 

 in the United States only from the large port cities. Its occur- 

 rence in the interior was not made known until 1925 when it 

 was mentioned in a report of the State Entomologist of Indiana 

 (Wallace, 1925) , as occurring on rats in Indianapolis. Although 

 some further records of the species from the interior have been 

 made, it is known to be permanently established only at Ames, 

 Iowa. 



PULEX LINNAEUS 

 Pulex Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Natura. 10th Ed., p. 614. 



Genotype: Pulex irritans Linnaeus 



No genal or pronotal ctenidium present. Ocular bristle situ- 

 ated near the middle or below the middle of the eye. Meso- 

 sternite not divided by a vertical rodlike sclerotization. 



This genus is represented in the East by a single species which 

 sometimes becomes a nuisance to man and domesticated 

 animals. 



