[ 345 ] 



apbanipteiu 



By Lt.-Col. L. Blathwayt, F.L.S., F.E.S. 

 Plate XVI. 



HAVE been interested, for some time past, in 

 studying the anatomy of Fleas, and having accu- 

 mulated a considerable amount of miscellaneous 

 information regarding them, I thought that these 

 fragmentary notes might be put togther, and woven 

 into something which, if of no great value from a 

 scientific point of view, would nevertheless prove 

 of some interest to the Members of the Bath 

 Microscopical Society, or, at all events, afford a 

 subject for discussion. 



The title of my paper is " Aphaniptera,"* a name given by 

 Kirby from the Greek a(pavrig = inconspicuous, because, although 

 fleas have no wings, they were believed to possess rudiments of 

 wings. Macleay,t writing in 1819, says, "Vestiges of wings are 

 to be discovered even in the flea." And West wood, | in 1840, 

 adopting Kirby's order Aphaniptera, gives as characters — "Wings, 

 4 ; minute scaly plates applied to the sides of the body, those of 

 the metathorax being the largest. Huxley, in his Manual of 

 Invertebrated Animals (p. 367), says " the two hinder somites of the 

 thorax have lamellar appendages, which possibly represent wings " ; 

 and Nicholson, in his Manual of Zoology (p. 353), says of the 

 Aphaniptera, " wings rudimentary in the form of scales situated 

 on the mesothorax and metathorax." Theobald, in British Flies 

 (Vol. I., p. 21, now in course of publication), defines the Apha- 

 niptera as " parasitic, with scale-like rudimentary wings, the 

 metathoracic scales being the largest." Although I have taken as 

 the title of this paper the word "Aphaniptera," on account of its 

 very general adoption, I confess I prefer the term " Suctoria " of 

 De Geer, and for the following reason : / do not believe that fieas 



* Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology^ Vol. iv., p. 382. 



t Macleay, Horce Entomologies^ p. 357. 



X Modern Classification of Insects^ Vol. II., p. 488. 



International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science. 



Third Series. Vol. V. z 



