348 APHANIPTERA. 



but Skeat considers it a modification of the Sanscrit phi = to 

 jump, from which we have the Dutch vloo^ the German fioh^ and 

 EngUsh flea. Scahger thought that they were produced from 

 humours amongst the hairs of dogs. Dr. Thomas Mouffett, an 

 Enghsh physician of the time of Queen EUzabeth, who wrote a 

 very curious Latin treatise of Zoology,"^' held an opinion similar to 

 that of Aristotle. I have searched Pliny's Natural History^ but, 

 although the whole of his eleventh book is devoted to insects, I 

 can find no mention of the flea. 



Latreille,t in his Natural History of Insects, says, "the Indians, 

 on account of their belief in metempsychosis, take the greatest 

 care of these creatures, as well as of all kinds of vermin that suck 

 human blood. At Surat a Hospital has been established for them, 

 some one being hired for the night who allows the creatures to 

 make a meal from him." He gives also an account of the per- 

 forming fleas which, in his time, were being exhibited in Paris. 



In their Introduction to Entomology, Kirby and Spence| say, 

 " Aristophanes, in order to make the great and good Athenian 

 philosopher, Socrates, appear ridiculous, represents him as having 

 measured the leap of a flea." § I think, however, that the ridicule 

 was directed at the method of calculation, not at the calculation 

 itself. The account runs, " Socrates and Chserephon tried to 

 measure how many times its own length a flea jumped. They 

 took in wax the size of a flea's foot, then on the principle of ^'' ex 

 pede Herculem " calculated the length of its body. Having found 

 this, and measured the distance of the flea's jump from the hand 

 of Socrates to Chserephon, the problem was resolved by simple 

 multiplication. 



A great deal has been written about the habits of fleas, but it 

 is difficult to say how much of this can be relied on. M. Defrance 

 wrote, " Small, shining black grains are nearly always found mixed 

 with the fleas' eggs, and these consist of dried blood. It is a 

 provision which the thoughtful mother flea has prepared at our 

 expense for the nourishment of its posterity. Figuier writes, || 



* Insectoruni sive minimorttm aninialium Theatruni. 



t His. Nat., Vol. xiv., p. 404. 



% Vol. II., p. 310. 



%Nubes, Act. i., Sc. 2. \\Les Insectes, p. 33. 



