26 
Psyche 
[ March 
AN EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR COLLECTING ECTO- 
PARASITES FROM LIVE ANIMALS AND BIRDS 
By Lawrence H. Dunn 
Medical Entomologist and Assistant Director, The Gorgas 
Memorial Laboratory, Panama, R. de P. 
The following method for collecting ectoparasites from 
live animals and birds that has now been used for some 
time by the writer has proved to be very effective and it 
is believed that a published description of it may be of 
interest to parasitologists, entomologists and others that 
are sometimes engaged in collecting ectoparasites. 
This method was first tried out in securing specimens 
of fleas from a young peccary, or wild pig, Pecari angulatus 
bangsi Goldman. This animal, which apparently was be- 
tween two and three months of age and weighed about 
seven pounds, had recently been captured by men engaged 
in the construction of a new road in the Canal Zone. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Louis Hulcher, Foreman on 
the road work, the peccary was brought to this laboratory 
in order that it might be examined for blood parasites and 
also to provide an opportunity for collecting specimens of 
the fleas with which it was heavily infested. 
This animal had been quite gentle and was kept as a pet 
at the camp of the road builders where it had lived for 
a number of days. On arrival at the laboratory it seemed 
to be frightened by the strange surroundings and strongly 
resisted being handled. The vigorous struggles of the pig 
and the activity of the fleas formed a combination which 
made the capture of many specimens rather a difficult 
task. It was evident that unless some method was devised 
for collecting the fleas, other than by using fingers or for- 
ceps or inverting glass tubes over them, our catch was not 
likely to be a very large one. In view of this, the following 
procedure was tried out. A narrow strip of adhesive 
tape wound several times around the snout and under the 
lower jaw of the pig acted as a muzzle and effectually pre- 
