74 MISC. PUBLICATION 5 0, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



lateral plantar bristles, the first pair of which is shifted to a submedian 

 position. Abdomen without combs of spines but with a few apical spines which 

 are dorsal or subdorsal in position. Antepygidial bristles present; 3 on each 

 side in female, and 1 large bristle flanked with 2 microsetae on each side in 

 male. Female with 1 receptaculum seminis, the head of which is large and 

 oblong. In male, sternal plate VIII extended posteriorly into a long, slender- 

 process which is armed apically with several downcurved, hooklike spines and 

 a small, semihyaline hood, fringed on its upper margin with several setae; 

 sternal plate IX with a half-circle bend instead of the usual elbow bend at 

 junction of distal lobe with vertical process, median apophysis vestigial, distal 

 lobe very long, slender, upcurved distally, and bearing setae along central part 

 of ventral surface; body of clasper considerably lengthened, movable finger 

 flattened, foliaceous, angulate apically, 



This genus and its only species are so peculiar in the shape of the 

 head, its chaetotaxy, and the terminalia of the male that there would 

 be some justification in erecting a subfamily for its exclusive recep- 

 tion. Previous descriptions of the male terminalia are decidedly in 

 error in certain respects, and although the present writers have a 

 male specimen for study in which the terminalia are spread apart, 

 yet they are not sure that the present description of them is free from 

 error. In order to understand the male terminalia properly in this 

 genus, a ventral and a posterior view of them under high magnifica- 

 tion is desirable. More material, making possible a dissection of the 

 male genitalia, is much desired. 



CONORHINOPSYLLA STANFORDI Stewart 

 (Fig. 4, C) 



ConorhinopsyUa stanfordi Stewart, 1930, Canad. Ent. 62:178, pi. 15, figs. 3-5. 



Type host. — Sciurus hudsonicus (Erx.) (red squirrel). 



Type locality. — Ithaca, N. Y. 



Range. — Eastern part of the United States and as far west as Utah. 



The original description of this species is accompanied by three 

 detail drawings. One of these is of the head and represents the labial 

 palpus as being five-segmented. This apparently is an error. The 

 labial palpus is really six-segmented as stated in a redescription of 

 the species by I. Fox (25, p. 1^1). The male terminalia in this species 

 need much further study and a new description. 



The Family Hystrichopsyllidae Tiraboschi 



Head usually divided by a fronto-epi cranial groove into anterior and posterior 

 parts. Gena sometimes enlarged and extended dorsally in front of antennal 

 groove but not divided by a groove. Forehead without helmet, seldom elongated, 

 and never with ventral flaps. Eyes well developed, vestigial, or absent. Cephalic 

 combs present. Thorax not greatly reduced; thoracic terga taken together 

 longer than abdominal tergum I. Typical abdominal tergal plates each with 

 more than 1 transverse row of setae. Abdominal apical spines frequently 

 numerous. Abdominal combs frequently present. Females never with number 

 of abdominal spiracles reduced, and, when gravid, abdomen not greatly dis- 

 tended. 



This family contains four subfamilies as follows: Ctenophthal- 

 minae, Hystrichopsyllinae, Macropsyllinae, and Leptopsyllinae. 



Hystrichopsyllidae as a family name dates from 1905, when Baker 

 (5, p. 136) raised Hystrichopsyllinae Tiraboschi, 1904, to family 

 rank. Oudemans in 1909 (59, p. 155) attributed the authorship of 



