portion of the segment bears 6 or 7 long and strong bristles, 4 or 5 of which are 

 placed near the edge, there being 3 to 8 additional smaller bristles proximally to 

 the large ones. On the inner side there are about 8 to 10 bristles. The eighth 

 sternite is sharply pointed. The sensory plate is convex as in the allied species 

 (not in Mesopsylla). The head of the receptaculum seminis is longer than it 

 is broad, while the tail is about half as long again as the head in the view 

 represented by our figure. 



Length (mounted specimen) : 2.5 mm. 



One pair from Yu-lin Fu, Shensi, taken off Myospalax census on November 

 24th, 1908. 



*' Yii-lin Fu, a town situated on border of the Ordos Desert. Surrounding 

 country very dry and sandy." 



" Myospalax consus, a rodent with the underground habits of a mole. 

 Fleas very rare on the animal." 



3. Vermipsylla dorcadia spec. nov. (Fig. 5). 



^ ? . As we are preparing a fuller account of this very interesting species, 

 we confine ourselves here to pointing out some of the more striking characters 

 by which both sexes of the new species are distinguished from its nearest 

 known ally, V. alakurt. The tergites of the thorax and abdomen bear two 

 rows of bristles, the anterior row being dorsally more or less incomplete and 

 the bristles of both rows being short with the exception of the two bristles 

 situated on each side below the stigma, which are fairly long. The female has 

 even less bristles on the tergites than the male, the anterior row being almost 

 completely absent. The sternites of the abdomen bear only one bristle on 

 each side. The legs are very different from those of V. alakurt, especially the 

 tibiae and tarsi, in which character the two sexes are practically identical. 

 The mid tibia has four and the hind tibia only three pairs of long bristles at 

 the dorsal edge, including the apical bristles, the other bristles being reduced 

 to the size of the slender bristles situated on the outer surface, which are no 

 longer than the lateral bristles of the femora. The thin dorsal bristles and 

 those lateral ones which are placed between the dorsal edge and the centre of 

 the tibia are directed backwards. The first segment of the fore tarsus as well 

 as the mid tarsus is much shorter than the second. The bristles at the hinder 

 edge of the first hind tarsal segment are thin and short ; this segment is only 

 one third the length of the hind tibia and has a pale base. The second to 

 fourth hind tarsal segments have each several apical bristles which are very 



202 



