( ^& ) 



the fweepings, not only young maggots from the eggs of Fleas, hut 

 full grown ones, and out of the chinks or cracks maggots may he 

 fwcpt, fome of which are fpinning their wehs, and others, which 

 have completed them, and are changed into cryfales ; fo that out of 

 fuch fvseepings Fleas may come forth day after day : and it may 

 liappen, that maggots newly hatched, may among fuch dult and 

 rubbilh find fomething to afford them nouriihment, fo as to grow 

 up to be complete Fleas. And I am the more inclined to believe 

 that this may be the cafe, becaufe I could never get out of any dog, 

 how much foever he was infefted with Fleas, any of their eggs, 

 nor fee any about his body. But if we take a cufhion covered with 

 a green or any other dark colour, and let a dog lie on it who is in- 

 fested with Fleas (which I have often done), we ftiall find that the 

 Fleas do not lay their eggs upon or near the dog, but the eggs will 

 be found in the corners and fewings of the cufhion, where, by their 

 whitenefs, they will eafily be difcerncd. 



AN'e have, indeed, moderns vho favour those old opinions, of 

 whom I will only fay, that if they were prqvided with a good mi- 

 crofcope, and would attentively beftow a few days, as I have done 

 many, in the inveftigation of the fubjeft, they would not broach 

 fuch fables and childilh tales, as they now write and publifh to the 

 world. 







