CH. XI.] THE CHIGOE OR JIGGER. 



199 



naturalist Willoughby kept a tame one, which was 

 fed not only with, but literally out of, his own hand, 

 being- permitted to suck his blood. Others have 

 contrived a pigmy chariot, cut from the cherry- 

 stone, to be dragged by a team of these nimble 

 creatures. Wherever they swarm it is no easy 

 matter to get rid of them. In order to prevent, be- 

 ing eaten up by these insects and lice, the Hunga- 

 rian shepherds are said to grease their bodies and 

 linen with lard, so that even these unscrupulous tor- 

 mentors are deterred from the filthy banquet. They 

 abound so much in the Missouri country, that the 

 natives are often obliged to shift their quarters. 

 Once when th late Dr. Clarke was rejoicing at the 

 thought of passing one night free from vermin, his 

 expectations were speedily dissipated by the sheikh 

 of the district, who assured him that the " king of 

 the fleas held his court at Tiberias." 



The chigoe or jigger is a species of this genus. 

 The female lodges under the skin, where it breeds 



its young. Formerly the genus of the insect was a 

 subject of dispute ; and a capuchin friar suffered one 

 to breed in his great toe, for the purpose of bringing 

 it up to determine the point. His scientific zeal, 

 however, cost him a foot, for the member containing 

 the precious deposite having mortified, its amputation 

 became indispensable. The male is not very unlike 

 the common flea. The abdomen of the female, 



