vm] RAT-FLEAS AND BAT-FLEAS 97 



CHAPTER VIII 



RAT-FLEAS AND BAT-FLEAS 



THE chief conclusions arrived at, as the result of 

 the investigations, during the years 1905 to 1909, 

 into the mode of spread of plague in India, may be 

 briefly stated in the following fashion : The Advisory 

 Committee, under whose direction the investigation 

 was carried out, consider that : firstly, in nature, 

 plague is spread among rats by the agency of 

 rat-fleas ; secondly, bubonic plague is not directly 

 infectious from man to man ; thirdly, in the great 

 majority of cases, during an epidemic of plague, 

 man contracts the disease from plague-infected rats 

 through the agency of plague-infected rat-fleas ; 

 fourthly, where there are annual epidemics they 

 occur during some part of that season when the 

 prevalence of fleas is greatest 



That being so, it is manifest that an accurate 

 knowledge of rat-fleas, their forms, their habits, and 

 their life-history may prove of great importance. 



Three species of the genus Mits follow quickly 

 in the wake of civilized man and establish them- 

 selves all over the globe. They may all be looked 

 upon as more or less domestic animals. The house- 

 mouse (M. mitsculus) is familiar everywhere. The 



B. F. 7 



