FLEAS 



147 



FIG. 43. Human flea, much enlarged. 



seem to frequent houses in the East in large numbers, 



especially along the Atlantic Coast. For instance, 



a correspondent from 



Brooklyn writes that 



he finds his summer 



home on Long Island 



badly infested with 



fleas and sends some 



specimens for determi- 

 nation. These proved 



to be the human flea. 



In California and along 



the Pacific Coast the 



human flea is evidently 



by far the most abun- 

 dant species found in the abodes of man. Doane gives 

 a list of the fleas collected 

 from human hosts and 

 houses in San Francisco 

 from February to June, 

 1908. In all, 916 fleas 

 were taken, of which 913 

 were human fleas and 3 

 were the common rat flea, 

 C. fasciatus. McCoy and 

 Mitzmain record the fleas 

 taken from 29 different in- 

 dividuals in California in 



FIG. 44. -Cat and dog flea, much one year ag 337 human 

 enlarged. _ . . 



fleas and only 5 specimens 



of other species. This would indicate that Pulex irritans 

 is the normal parasitic flea of man on the Pacific Coast. 



