20 



BULLETIN 248, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



for days or weeks. Its hold on the host is difficult to loosen. Another 

 marked tendency is for the adults to attach to hosts in dense masses. 

 A chicken is frequently seen with a large portion of her head closely 

 set with these fleas, making it appear almost black, These dense 

 masses are often seen on the ears of dogs or cats, particularly at the 

 very edge of the ear. The characteristic appearance of an infested 

 chicken's head is shown in figure 7. 



The hosts of this flea are, unfortunately, rather numerous. As 

 has been stated, chickens are commonly attacked, and it is on this 

 host that the species assumes its greatest importance as a pest. In 

 the investigations by the author it has been found in abundance on 

 dogs, cats, tame rabbits, ducks, and turkeys. It is not infrequently 

 found on people who go about infested poultry yards, and children, 



crawling beneath houses where 

 jg&jtsllp infested animals go, are often 



bitten. The species does not at- 

 k tack man very freely. It is sel- 



dom found in houses except on 

 : rare occasions, when a few speci- 



^k • mens may be brought in on the 

 IJ^A clothing. In one instance in 

 western Texas a burrowing owl 

 was killed and found to be heav- 

 ily infested about the head with 

 this flea. In another instance 

 in the same region a wood rat, 

 or pear rat, as it is commonly 

 known there, was found to har- 

 bor a number of sticktight fleas. 

 Several years ago Prof. J. C. 

 Hartsell, of Orangeburg, S. C, 

 reported to the Bureau of Entomology instances where horses were 

 heavily infested with these fleas on the lower portions of the legs. 

 Others have recorded it from cattle, and a number of specimens have 

 been taken on rats and other hosts in different parts of the world. 



The species was originally described from India, but it now ap- 

 pears to be widely distributed throughout the Tropics and the warm 

 temperate regions. In the United States it is seldom seen north of 

 the Southern and Southwestern States. Eeports indicate that the 

 species is spreading; at any rate, it would seem that the South is 

 becoming more generally and completely infested. 



No disease has been found to be carried by the sticktight flea, but 

 its importance as a parasite places it among the principal insect 

 enemies of poultry in the South. The principal direct loss is due to 

 the attack of the fleas on young poultry, as high as 85 per cent of young 



* 



Fig. 7. — Head of rooster infested with the 

 sticktight flea (Echidnophaga gallina- 

 cea). Somewhat reduced. (Original.) 



