77 



Echidnophaga gallinacea Westwood. 



This species has the body almost as broad as long, and of a red- 

 brown color; 1 bristle in front of eye and 6 on each metathoracic 

 pleuron; each abdominal tergite has on each side near the median 

 line a single hair; the spiracles are situated well down on the sides. 

 Length: Male, 0.8 to 1.2 millimeters; female, 1 to 1.8 millimeters. 



This species is a fairly common pest of poultry and dogs in warm 

 countries, and is called the " chicken flea." It has been taken from 

 rats in Italy. 



Sarcopsylla. This genus includes the S. penetrans, which attacks 

 the feet of various animals, including man, in the Tropics. This 

 species has not yet been recorded from rats, but an allied species is 

 (It-scribed from Brazilian rats. 

 Sarcopsylla cxcata Enderlein. 



Color, clear yellowish. Eyes rudimentary; lower anterior corner 

 of coxae prolonged in a tooth; tarsal joints very short; claws long, 

 but little curved, and almost hair like. The body of a swollen 

 female is about 5 millimeters long. 



Taken from Mm rattus in Brazil. 



LICE ANOPLURA. 



The insects known as Pediculi, or lice, are parasitic during their 

 entire life on various mammals, including man. They are flat, 

 rather elongate, wingless insects, with a small head and stout legs, 

 which end in a strong claw, opposable to a projection at the tip of 

 the penultimate joint. The simple antennae, three to five jointed, 

 are inserted in a concavity on the side of the head. The mouth 

 parts are of a very peculiar nature, and not yet homologized with the 

 cibaria of other insects. There is a short beak or proboscis in front, 

 with recurved spines or hooks on its dorsal and lateral surfaces. 

 Through this beak extends a slender stylet, that is formed of three 

 parts; a ventral channeled piece, perhaps a labium; a dorsal piece, 

 consisting of two pieces fused together, perhaps the maxillae; and a 

 median tube, possibly the hypopharynx. The stylet is used to 

 pierce the skin of the host, and the blood is sucked up through it. 

 There are no palpi. On each side of the head there is a small, simple 

 eye. The thorax shows only incompletely the division into the three 

 parts; there is a large spiracle above on each side. The abdomen 

 shows eight segments, six of them have a spiracle, or breathing-pore, 

 on each side, the basal and apical segments being without them. 

 All of the segments bear a few simple hairs or bristles; the longest 

 are on the posterior segments. The legs are stout and prominent; 

 they consist of a broad coxa, a small trochanter, a longer femur, a 

 tibia with an apical process, and a tarsus of one joint and a very 

 large terminal claw. At the apex of the tibia, just within the projec- 

 tion, is a sucking disc. This, the projection, and the claw form the 

 apparatus to hold fast to the hair of the host. 



