PULICIDiE — FLEAS. 313 



were satisfied there was no deception.^ Latrielle also men- 

 tions a Flea of a moderate size, which dragged a silver can- 

 non, mounted on wheels, that was twenty-four times its own 

 weight, and which being charged with gunpowder was fired 

 off without the Flea appearing in the least alarmed.'-' 



It is recorded in Purchas's Pilgrims that an Egyptian 

 artisan received a garment of cloth of gold for binding a 

 Flea in a chain. ^ 



The Flea is twice mentioned in the Bible, and in both 

 cases David, in speaking to Saul, applies it to himself as a 

 term of humility.* 



A Prussian poet, quoted by Jaeger,^ gives us the song of 

 a young Flea who had emigrated to this country from Prus- 

 sia, and thus expresses his dissatisfaction to his sweetheart: 



Kennst de nunmehr das Land, wo Dorngestripp und Distela 



bllih'n. 

 Im frost'gen Wald nur ecl^elhafte Tannenzapfen gliiirn, 

 Der Schierling tief, und hoch der Sumach steht, 

 Eiu rauher Wind vom schwarzen Himmel weht; 

 Kennst du es wohl? lass uns eilig zieh'u, 

 Und schnell zuriick in unsre Hiemath flieli'n ! 



An English prose translation of which is : " Know'st 

 thou now this country, where only briars and thistles bloom ; 

 where ugly fur-nuts only glow in the icy forest ; where down 

 in the vale the fetid hemlock grows, and on the hills the 

 poisonous sumach ; where heavy winds blow from black 

 clouds over desolate lands ? Dost thou not know of this 

 country ? Oh, then, let us fly in haste and return lo our 

 own fatherland !" 



** To send one away with a Flea in his ear," is a very old 

 English phrase, meaning to dismiss one with a rebuke. "^ 

 "Flea-luggit" is the Scottish — to be unsettled or confused.'^ 



There is a collection of poems called " La Puce des 

 grands jours de Poitiers" — the Flea of the carnival of Poi- 

 tiers. The poems were begun by the learned Pasquier, who 



1 Ins. Misc., p. 188. 



2 Nouv. Diet, d'llist. Nat., xxviii. 249. 

 8 Pilg., ii. 840. 



4 1 Saml. xxiv. 14 ; xxvi. 20. 



5 Hist, of Ins., p. 310. 



^ Wright's Provincial Diet. 

 "^ Jamieson's Scottish Did, 



