366 SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. 



of the fowl-house and run with disinfectants, recollecting that damp 

 localities arc unsuitable for these fleas to breed in. 



PULICID/E. 

 XENOPSYLLA CHEOPIS. Roth. 

 Pulex cheopis, Rothschild, E.M.M. (1903). 85 86. t. 1, ff. 3. 9; 

 Howlett, !nd. Ins. Life, p. 658, t. 71, t. a; Reports on Plague in 

 India, I, pt. I, pp. 240 — 250, t. It) 12, pt. 2. pp. 48(3 509. 



l'n.. 111. — Xenopsylla cheopis, female, The small figure inside thi 



.■I.!, shows the natural size. (From Reporl >n P in India.) 



Distribution. — Throughout Southern India. 



Lifehistory. — The white, round eggs are about as large as a small 

 pins-head and are laid on the ground as a rule. Alter about two 

 days the larva? hatch out and live amongst and on animal or 

 vegetable refuse ; the larva is an elongate, bristly, minute, white 

 grub, rarely seen as it shuns the light. Puliation takes place in a 

 small cocoon of silk covered with particles of dust. etc. Life-cycle, 

 egg about 2 days, larva about 7 days, pupa about 7 days. 



Hosts. — Rats of all sorts as a rule, occasionally on cats and on 

 man. 



Status. A most serious pest as being the carrier of Plague 

 bacilli from rats to man. 



Control. — (1) Destruction of rats. 



(2) Cleanliness in houses. 



(3) Exposure of infested clothing to bright sunshine on a 

 broad Hat surface. 



CTENOCEPHALUS EELIS, Bouche. 

 Pulex felis, Bouche, Nova Acta Ac Leop. Carol.. XVII. 505 

 (1835); Rothschild. Nov. Zool., XII, 192 (1905) and Ent. Rec, XIII. 

 126, t. 3 [differences between felis and canis]. 



