CHAPTER 7 



FLEAS (APHANIPTERA*) 



{d(f)avT]S='NOT APPARENT, 7rTepoV=WING) 



Though this little Creature is almost universally known 

 to be a small brown skipping Animal, very few are acquainted 

 with its real Shape and Figure, with the Structure, Strength, 

 Beauty of its Limbs and Parts, or with the Manner of its 

 Generation and Increase. 



Dr. Hooke 



Structure, Life-History and Habits 



THE SIMPLEST way to collect bird fleas is to take a nest from which the 

 fledgelings have recently flown and to keep it in a cardboard box 

 or linen bag. Providing the nest is damped periodically, the larval or 

 pupal fleas continue to develop in the debris or rubbish in the bottom, 

 and in due course hatch out. It is a more lengthy process to collect 

 them off the bodies of their host. Less than one bird in ten harbours 

 fleas, and then generally only one or two specimens at a time. More- 

 over the host has to be enclosed in a receptacle immediately after being 

 shot or captured, otherwise the fleas hop ofl'and escape. The maximum 

 number recovered from a bird is 25 specimens from a house-martin. 

 On the other hand, no less than 4,000 have been bred out of a single 

 martin's nest. 



On opening the collecting bag the fleas can often be observed 

 sitting at rest on the sides (Plate XXXIII). In profile they are faintly 

 reminiscent of miniature brown pigs — "bunch backed like a hog." This 

 effect is produced by the absence of a well defined neck, for the head 

 appears to pass broadly into the thorax. Moreover the flea is devoid of 

 a "waist," which is such a characteristic feature of wasps and many flies. 



The largest British flea is the mole flea [Hystrichopsylla talpae) which 

 measures about 5 to 6 mm. in length. The British bird fleas vary from 



* Also known as Siphonaptera 

 61 



