52 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSErM 



T. Tibbetts.^ Holotype, allotype and two paratypes (Icf, 19) in the 

 collection of the U. S. National Museum, and two paratypes (1 cf, 1 9) 

 in the British Museum collection of fleas at Tring. 



Diagnosis: The new subspecies differs from all known representa- 

 tives of the genus Ceratophyllus by the great development of the post- 

 spiracular area of the spiracular fossa on terga ii-vii (figs. 1, 2); in 

 the nominate subspecies the postspiracular areas are somewhat less 



Figures 1^. — Spiracular fossa of tergum vii of: 1, Ceratophyllus affinis neglectus, new sub- 

 species, male, holotype; 2, C. a. neglectus, female allotype; 3, Ceratophyllus niger C. Fox, 

 male, from Essington, British Columbia; 4, C. niger, female, from Essington, British 

 Columbia. 



■ Cross and IvJiowlton (1953) recorded material with virtually identical data, but determined as Cerato- 

 phyllus garei Roths., "collected from nests of the barn swallow, Hirundo erythrogaater, by T. Tibbets and 

 L. Dale Haws at Smithfield, Utah, June 7, lO^l." Although C. garei, a flea of damp birds' nests, is known 

 to occur in Utah, it is very likely that the specimens recorded by Cross and Knowlton will also prove to be 

 representatives of C. affinis neglectus. One pair of the USNM specimens was misdctermined as Cerato- 

 phyllus niger, while the other two pairs had not been determined. 



