THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XLIII.] APRIL, 1910. [No. 563 



CHIASTOPSYLLA, a NEW GENUS of SIPHONAPTERA. 



By the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S. 



In a small pamphlet on rat-fleas which we are going to pub- 

 lish for the use of those who study the transmission of disease 

 through the agency of fleas we had to mention a small group of 

 South African species which were originally described as Cerato- 

 phijllus, but really constitute a genus apart. As the pamphlet 

 in question is not a place suitable, in our opinion, for the publi- 

 cation of new names, we give here a description of the genus, 

 which we propose calling : 



Chiastopsylla, nov. gen. 



Allied to Ceratophyllus, but characterized by the following par- 

 ticulars : — The labial palpi consist of four segments. The eye is well 

 developed, but not strongly pigmented. The genal edge of the head 

 bears tw'O spines, one lying on top of the other. The pronotum has 

 a comb of about twelve spines. The seventh abdominal tergite bears 

 one long apical bristle on each side. The eighth sternite is small in 

 both sexes. The hind coxa has a comb of spines on the inside. The 

 mid and hind femora bear no lateral row of bristles. The fifth 

 segment has in all the tarsi four lateral bristles, besides a thin sub- 

 apical hair, there being no ventral bristles in between the proximal 

 pair. 



Type : C. numcB, Rothsch., Nov. Zool. p. 637, n. 27, pi. xii. 

 fig. 58, pi. xiii. tigs. 59, 63, 65 (1904). 



Other species : — 



C. octavii, Rothsch., I. c. p. 638, n. 28, pi. xiii. fig. 61 (1904). 

 C. rossi, Waterst., E.M.M. ii. p. 271, n. 547, pi. v. figs. 3, 4 

 (1909). 



ENTOM. — APRIL, 1910. 



