APHANIPTERA. 355 



which eggs are ready to hatch in about a week. In the meantime 

 the flea herself has undergone a marked change, the internal 

 organs being atrophied by the growth of the eggs. 



According to some authorities, if the female is not extracted 

 mortification of the toe or foot may set in. The late Rev. J. G. 

 Wood disbelieved the stories of the injuries caused by the Chigoe. 

 He gives his brother as his authority, and his words are : — " A 

 great deal of rubbish has been written about the Chigoe. It is 

 true our friend is a great nuisance in his way, but in six years I 

 have never known, or ever heard, of anyone being much the worse 

 for the Chigoe, though I have seen some people too lazy to 

 extract them until their feet were full of their nests. . . There 

 is a slight itching, and then, if they are extracted with any reason- 

 able amount of care, the nest of eggs comes away all correct. If 

 it should be broken, which will happen sometimes, a pinch of snuff 

 is put into the hole, and there is an end of the matter.'"'' Other 

 authors, however, who had as good or better opportunities of 

 finding out the true state of the case, have come to a quite different 

 opinion. Until about twenty years ago the Jigger was believed to 

 be confined to America, and Mr. Newton, Vice-Consul at Loanda, 

 states that before 1872 the Jigger was not known on the West 

 Coast of Africa ; but in that year a ship, the Tho??ias Mitchell, 

 arrived from Rio Janeiro, the crew of which were suffering from 

 Jiggers. These were quickly communicated to the crews of the 

 boats and introduced on shore, and they have since gradually 

 spread along the coast. Mr. Newton says that he has seen many 

 natives without toes, and in a dreadful state from allowing the eggs 

 to remain and hatch and the wound to fester. 



Walton, in his History of St. Domingo, records that a Capuchin 

 friar, desirous of settling the dispute as to what genus the Jigger 

 belonged, brought away with him from that island a colony of 

 these animals, which he permitted to establish themselves in one of 

 his feet ; but unfortunately for himself and for science, the foot 

 intrusted with the precious deposit mortified, was obliged to be 

 amputated, and, with all its inhabitants, committed to the waves.f 



I think that more credit must be given to the affirmative than 



* Insects Abroad, p. 772. 

 tKirby and Spence, Vol. I., p. 100. 



