284 Mr Hindle, A Chinese Flea-trap. 
A Chinese Flea-trap. By Epwarp Hinp.is, B.A., Ph.D., 
Magdalene College, Cambridge, Assistant to the Quick Professor 
of Biology. (Communicated by Professor Nuttall.) 
[Read 5 May 1913.] 
THROUGH the kindness of Mr Stanley A. Stericker, we have 
recently been able to obtain from Cheng-tu, the capital of Sze-— 
Chwan, an example of a flea-trap much used by the natives in 
that part of China. 5 
The apparatus consists of two pieces of bamboo one inside the 
other. The outer bamboo is about one foot in length and 24 
inches in diameter and is fenestrated in the manner shown in the 
accompanying photograph. The inner bamboo is of equal length — 
but only about one inch in diameter, and is kept in position — 
within the former by means of a short wooden plug. 
The manner in which the apparatus is employed is as follows: 
The two pieces of bamboo are first separated by removing the 
wooden plug. The inner bamboo is then coated with bird-lime, 
or some similar sticky substance, and put back in position within ~ 
the fenestrated bamboo. The function of the latter is protective and 
prevents the sticky surface from coming in contact with any large 
objects. The whole trap can now be placed under bed-clothes, or 
amongst rugs, etc., and any fleas that get on to the surface of the 
inner bamboo at once stick to the bird-lime and are thus caught. 
The apparatus is said to be a very efficient flea-trap, and 
considering its simplicity it might be used with advantage during 
plague epidemics, in order to catch any fleas, rat or human, within 
houses. Considering the importance of the rat-flea in the trans- 
mission of plague, the employment of a simple and effective flea- 
trap, such as the one described above, would probably have a 
decided effect on the spread of the disease. 
