l82 .MR. UICHART) S. HAGNA1.L ON THF, SIPHONAPTJOK A 



my collecting was of a very haphazard nature, but in -that 

 year great strides were made and the following records will 

 show how much I am indebted to Mr. Hall for his enthusiastic 

 collaboration. I am also very grateful to other friends, whose 

 names appear in the following list, for tiie trouble they have 

 taken in forwarding me material in the shape of mammals and 

 birds or their nests and occasional!)- tubes of fleas. Such 

 assistance 1 am glad to say has swollen our list appreciably: 

 without it Ceratophyllus columbce and the two bat tieas 

 Ischnopsyllus octacteiius and /. simplex would not have been 

 known to us. For various reasons my list was never published, 

 and in going over these old records in preparing them for pub- 

 lication my mind dwells upon the many pleasant excursions I 

 made in search of fleas and other ecto-parasites ; to the Fame 

 Islands with Messrs. Gill and Hall, under Mr. Paynter's kindly 

 guidance and hospitality, and later with members of our Natural 

 History Society; to Bradbury with Messrs. Gill, Wallace and 

 E. I.. Turner in search of moles' nests which we brought home 

 in sacks to the distress of my household, and to Stocksfield 

 with Mr. Walton, and Corbridge with Mr. Walton Lee in quest 

 of house martins' nests and bats. And lastly and more 

 recently, a visit to Mr. George Bolam at Alston, where we 

 examined some living examples of the whiskered bat for its 

 treasures. Here I should also gratefully acknowledge the, 

 numerous parcels of moies' nests that Mr. Noble so kindly 

 collected for me in the Irthing district. 



At this time there was no comprehensive literature on the 

 subject, only odd papers in various entomological magazines, 

 etc., and mostly from the pen of the Hon. N. C. Rothschild, 

 the chief authority on the Siphonaptera ] and the whole of my 

 material has been very kindly examined and identified by Mr. 

 Rothschild. Without his help and friendly encouragement this 

 work could never have been undertaken, and I am grateful to 

 an extent that is difficult to express but which I feel sure he 

 will realize, for his unfailing patience and courtesy in dealing 

 with mv material. 



