146 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



and it is an interesting fact that blood is squirted from 

 the anus while it is feeding. 



KINDS OF FLEAS COMMONLY FOUND IN DWELLING-HOUSES 



There are two species of fleas that become common in 

 dwelling-houses in the United States and act as a source 

 of irritation. These are the human flea, Pulex irritans, 

 and the cat and dog flea, Ctenocephalus canis. Most 

 of the fleas that we have found infesting dwelling-houses 

 in the East and South have been the cat and dog flea. A 

 pet dog or cat is very liable to become the source of in- 

 festation from this flea. 



The author has seen dwelling-houses literally overrun 

 with fleas that had originated from a pet cat. In one 

 instance, in which a house had been closed only three or 

 four weeks in the absence of the mistress, but which had 

 remained accessible, in the meantime, to the pet cat, the 

 fleas had become so abundant that one could not stay in 

 the lower rooms with any degree of comfort. 



That the cat and dog flea is the more common species 

 infesting houses in the eastern United States is also con- 

 firmed by the records of the United States Bureau of 

 Entomology, for Howard says: "Judging from the speci- 

 mens of fleas sent to the Bureau of Entomology of recent 

 years with complaints of houses being infested by them, 

 the human flea, Pulex irritans (Fig. 43), is not the species 

 most likely to occur in great numbers in dwelling-houses 

 in this country, but rather the common cosmopolitan flea 

 of the dog and cat, Ctenocephalus canis (Fig. 44). This 

 holds especially for the eastern United States." 



On the other hand, the human flea does occasionally 



