13 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Mar., '14 



Notes and News, 



ENTOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS PROM ALL QUARTERS 

 OF THE GLOBE. 



Naphthalene and Fleas (Siphonap.). 



In June, 1913, while giving a bath to an orphan kitten which had 

 been adopted several months before, I noticed some fleas upon it and 

 not desiring to have the animal infested nor to have the house 

 stocked with such dangerous insects, I thought over the possibility 

 of killing the latter. Besides kerosene oil and soap, the only other 

 available insecticide was napthalene in the form of the usual naptha- 

 lene or moth balls used for keeping among clothes. It was thought 

 undesirable to use kerosene, while ordinary soaps seemed likely to 

 be inefficient. The only hope then seemed to be in the napthalene. 

 I took three or four balls of it, therefore, and crushed them into a 

 fine powder by wrapping them in a piece of burlap and using a 

 hammer. Holding the kitten over a large sheet of paper placed over 

 the floor of the veranda, I rubbed the powder into her fur, working 

 from behind toward the head and including the tail and legs. After 

 several minutes, the insects became noticeable about the head, espec- 

 ially around the eyes and at this stage I commenced to remove them 

 by hand, killing each one in succession by crushing it with the ham- 

 mer. In this manner, after about five minutes, thirty or more of 

 the insects were successfully killed and the kitten seemed to be 

 free of them. 



About a week previous to this, another older kitten had been ob- 

 tained and it seemed to be likely (and was found to be so) that the 

 young kitten had gotten the fleas from this comparative stranger. 

 So she in turn was given the same treatment with the result that 

 over a hundred and fifteen of the vigorous insects were killed; this 

 time a few escaped, though most of them were quite stupid and did not 

 hop when placed upon the paper ; in fact many dropped off. In this 

 case also, however, a few of the insects remained upon the cat ; 

 a half hour after finishing, I went to the cat again and found six 

 grown fleas, stupidly resting upon the top of the fur whence 

 they were easily caught and killed. It was decided, after such toward 

 results to repeat the treatment after a day's time, so as to allow 

 the animals to pick up, as it were, any of the insects which may have 

 escaped into the house. This was done, with the result that about 

 a half dozen fleas were obtained from the young kitten and about 

 fifteen from the older one. The animals then seemed to be quite 

 free from infestation but the treatment apparently made them ill 

 for about a day or so ; the most noticeable symptoms were loss of 

 appetite and an inclination to lie about instead of, as was usual with 

 the younger kitten, continually running about and playing. The 



