SOME COMMON SIPHONAPTERA OF THE 

 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



By Carroll Fox.' 

 (From the Bureau of Health, Manila, I'. I.) 



Xenopsylla cheopis Rothschild. 



Schultze and Herzog, in connection with the latter's study of 

 plague, described - a rat flea which at the time was believed to 

 be a new species and was named Pulex philippinensis. Forty- 

 two specimens of this flea from the genera Epimys and Mas 

 were studied. Since this publication Rothschild has pronounced 

 the flea identical with his Xenopsylla cheopis, which was first 

 described from the vicinity of the River Nile. It is the common 

 rat flea of India, and is rapidly becoming cosmopolitan, having 

 been reported from the United States, England, Italy, France, 

 Australia, Japan, and other places. 



A short anti-rat campaign in Manila during June and July, 

 1911, enabled the writer to secure 449 specimens of rat fleas. 



A careful study of these, together with a comparison with 

 the type specimens of Pulex philippinensis in the Bureau of 

 Science, proves without a doubt, that P. philippinensis Herzog 

 and Schultze and A"", cheopis Rothschild are identical. 



The four commonest species of the genera Epimys and Miis ■■ 

 were trapped in Manila, namely Epimys norvegicus ExerL, E. 

 rattus Linn., E. querceti Hollister, and Mus commissarius Mearns 

 the first named of the genus greatly predominating while the 

 specimens of E. rattus were scarce. Some fleas were collected 

 from each of these species, but, needless to say, the greatest 

 number were taken from the commonest host, E. norvegicus. 



The greatest number of fleas taken from one rat was 32. 

 Many females contained eggs. 



' Passed assistant surfjeon, U. S. Public Health and Marine-Hospital 

 Service; assistant director of Health for the Philippine Islands; associate 

 professor of Hyf^iene, Collej^e of Medicine and Surgery, University of 

 the Philippines. 



'/??/. Govt. Labs., Manila (1904), No. 23, 78. 



'Vide This Journal, Sec. D (1912), 7. 5, for a change in synonymy of 

 the rats. 



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