IV 



THE WICKED FLEA. 



THERE is social distinction in insect parasites as well 

 as in all other things that man has to do with. Certain 

 undesirable creatures that become attached to us, that 

 like us, we wouldn't mention by name for worlds unless 

 we are talking to people that we are very well acquainted 

 with indeed, ' for fearful inferences the company might 

 draw." These nameless foes in a way represent a low 

 stage of culture. They stand for indifference to soap 

 and water and fine-tooth combs. To know too much of 

 them by personal experience is to be away behind the 

 style. Cleanliness is all the go nowadays. But fleas are 

 different. They are no respecters of persons. They 

 bite the just and the unjust, the man with silk underwear 

 and the man with no underwear at all. They do not 

 depend upon the personal untidiness of their hosts. In 

 a way they may be said, too, to have social distinction, for 

 they don't take up with any and every body they meet. 



Fleas haven't been studied very much. We had sooner 

 kill them than study them, though they are about the 

 finest specimen of a zoological oddity going. They are 

 utterly unlike other insects, and these naturalists that 

 cannot rest until they have pigeon-holed a creature 

 and shown its relationship have had to walk the 

 floor and worry more about the flea than any other 



