46o 
FLEA. 
genus Acarus, wliich excite similar swellings under 
the skin, have been confounded with it under the 
general name of Chigger or Chigoe. Catesby’s 
account runs as follows. 
It is a very small Flea, that is found only in 
warm climates: it is a very troublesome insect, 
especially to Negroes, and others that go barefoot 
and are slovenly. They penetrate the skin, under 
which they lay a bunch or bag of eggs, which swell 
to the bigness of a small pea or tare, and give 
great pain till taken out; to perform which great 
care is required, for fear of breaking the bag, 
wdiich endangers a mortification, and the loss of 
a leg, and sometimes life itself. This insect in 
its natural size is not above a fourth part so big 
as the common Flea. From the mouth issues a 
hollow tube like that of the common Flea, between 
a pair of antenncC. It has six jointed legs, and 
something resembling a tail. The egg is so small 
as to be scarcely discerned by the naked eye. 
These Chegoes are a nuisance to most parts of 
America between the tropics.” 
Catesby’s microscopic figure of the insect re- 
presents it with very much the habit of a Flea, with 
moniliforrn antennae of numerous joints, and a 
caudal tube of the same length w’itli the proboscis, 
slightly forked at the end. 
