A KK VISION OV A:MERICAX SIPIIOXAT^TERA. or FIvEAS, 

 nx; ETHER with a C0M1>ETE list and I'.ir.LIOCrRA- 

 PIIY OF THE (JROUr. 



By Carl F. I^akki;, 



Of till' Lehim! Sldnfaril .Inu'ior (uirer.vli/. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The present work was heoun in 18t>(» ut the sug-o-estion of my friend 

 and foruKU- teacher. Prof. A. -J. Cook. His advice then was that usual 

 to the thorouo-h-g'oino- scientist, not to pul)lish until sonic phase of 

 tlie work liad reached conipk^tioii so far as circumstances permitted. 

 At that time nothing whatever had been done on the group in America 

 in a s3'stematic way. It was supposed that this fact would make the. 

 taxonomic work at hnist "plain sailing." But the Condition of the 

 group in Europe had not ])een reckoned with. However, anatomical 

 studies were begun and an attempt made to get together matcM'ial and 

 the literature. It was found that fcAV collections contained more than 

 an occasional dog flea, and the literature proved to be more e\tcnsi\ c 

 than was supposed. 



The impossibility of linding names for more than a very few of the 

 species attracted attention to the need of sj-stematic work very early, 

 and an attempt was made to classify the few species then in tlu' col- 

 lection. This woi'k was based on Taschen berg's Die Flc'ihe, and the 

 residts were ])ublished in 1S1K5 as Preliminaiy Studies. It was evi- 

 dently a step in the right direction, for while many of the I'esults were 

 merely tentativ(\ yet it attracted much attention (o a badly neglected 

 group, and material cam(> in much more I'apidly afterward and from 

 many (juarters. Here should be mentioned particularly those whose 

 interest in th(^ subject has made possil)le our far fuller pi'esent knowl- 

 edge of tlu> American species: 



Prof. J. iM. Aldrich, Moscow. Idaiio: Dr. C. Berg. Buenos Ayres, 

 Argentina; I*rof. Lawrence Bruner. Lincoln. Nebraska: Prof. A. !>. 

 Cordley, Corvallis. Or(>gon; l>i\ A. Duges. (nianajuato. ^lexieo; 

 Mr. Edward Ehriiorn. Mountain \'iew. California: Dr. A. K. Fi>lier. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXVII— No. 1361. 



