VARIETY OF FLEAS. 217 



" The little smith of Nottingham, 

 \Vho doth the work that no man can." 



In Single/ s ' Animal Biography ' are related other the like 

 instances of human ingenuity and insect prowess; and 

 Latreille celebrates the strength and courage of another 

 Samsonian flea, which drew a silver mounted cannon, and 

 stood fire, unmoved, when the piece of loaded artillery was 

 let off. 



These and all other such recorded feats have ceased to be 

 marvels to the patrons of those " industrious fleas " who still, 

 we believe, continue to ply their daily labours in Regent Street 

 or the Strand; but they serve to show, that amongst the 

 grand discoveries and inventions of this our 19th century, 

 the art of breaking in fleas to harness is not one. Bertolotti 

 asserts that the saddles, &c., on his flea company were really 

 fastened by girths, not by gum, as the incredulous have 

 thought, the corslets of the pygmy wearers being too highly 

 polished for anything to stick upon them. 



Of fleas there are reckoned at least a dozen species, though 

 some, perhaps, distinguishable only to the eye of an entomolo- 

 gist. Those which infest birds and beasts, and those which 

 honour us with their peculiar preference, are each distinct 

 kinds, and are probably therefore endowed with tastes too 

 discriminating to abide long in, even if they emigrate to, 

 foreign quarters. Comfort herein for the delicately apprehen- 

 sive, who, having no dogs of their own, are apt to feel fidgety 



o 2 



