l86 ]\IR. RICHAKD S. BAGNALL ON THE SIPHONAPTKRA 



records hereafter, such as in the occurrence of the hedgehog 

 and rabbit fleas on foxes, and those of other creatures upon 

 the stoat or weasel. 



In my hst I have quoted, under each species, from Roth- 

 schild's "Synopsis," and I have also given a list of those 

 species we have not yet met with as a guide and incentive to 

 others. 



e. Distributional Note. 

 i As regards the occurrence of the various species from 

 rodents, etc., it will be noticed that a very large proportion 

 indeed have not been recorded from Ireland. In most obscure 

 groups such a statement would imply that such part of the 

 British Isles had not received attention — in fact, the 

 geographical distribution of the members of most obscure 

 groups is represented by the geographical distribution (and 

 opportunities of travel) of the workers in that group ! But 

 the distribution of ecto-parasites is also naturally limited to 

 the distribution of the host-animals, and in this connection we 

 must remember the peculiar paucity of the Irish mammalian 

 fauna, due to the earlier separation of that island from the 

 European Continent and the consequent isolation from the 

 later migratory flows of mammals, more especially the Siberian 

 element. 



I do not remember having met with any account of the 

 occurrence of fossil species of fleas in my researches into the 

 literature of fossil arthropods, and in the nature of things the 

 discovery of such fossils was scarcely to be expected. In 

 1910, however, Dampf described a species of Palceopixlla 

 {P. klebsiana) found fossil in Baltic amber. 



/. List of British Fi.kas. 



t 



An asterisk denoting those known from Nortliinnbciland and Durham. 



Family PULICID^. 



I. Xciiopsxlla chrofiis Roths. 

 *2. ]\ilcx iiritans L. 

 *3. Ai'cJjiCofsxIla ci-liiaici Bouchcf. 



