PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 107 
Hamilton, near Newcastle, received in October, 1916, all 
proved to be Ct. canis—specimens were determined by the 
Hon. N. Charles Rothschild. They occurred in sandy sur- 
roundings, and constituted a veritable plague. Narrabri 
had a similar experience in April, 1917, these fleas being 
also identified for us by Mr. Rothschild. In the sandy 
suburbs of Perth fleas are also very abundant at times, and 
belong to the same species. The closely allied Ct. felis, dis- 
tinguished chiefly by a slight difference in the shape of the 
head, I have so far not found on man, but only on dogs. 
As already indicated, Ct. canis or felis (the separation of 
the two species was not made) is occasionally found on our 
rats, as is also P. irritans. So far, I have not found JL. 
cheopis on man, but the occurrence of plague in human 
beings indicates that on occasion this flea does bite man in 
Australia. 
Dr. F. Tidswell? found, out of 97 fleas caught on man in 
Sydney, that 81 were P. irritans and 16 Ct. canis. He (loc 
cit., p. 72) has been able to get Ceratophyllus fasciatus to 
bite man experimentally. 
Bep-pues, Clinocoris (Cimex) lectularius L.—In the 
1902 epidemic of plague in Sydney, bed-bugs in all stages 
of development were found on the rats submitted»for ex- 
amination, and also occasionally by Dr. T. Harvey John- 
ston in 1909, 1910 and 1911. Similarly Ham mentions that 
they were present on rats during the outbreak of plague 
in Brisbane in 1900, and in some instances in subsequent 
ones. If bed-bugs attach themselves to living rats, and can 
be transported by them, there is naturally the possibility 
that they may be themselves transferred by rats from one 
building to another, and thus introduce the bugs to fresh 
quarters. As the rats submitted for examination in Syd- 
ney have been in nearly all instances dead trapped rats or 
2 Rep. Second Outbr. of Plague, Syd., 1902, p. 74. 
