PULICID^ — FLEAS. 315 



Walton, in his Present State of the Spanish Colonies, 

 tells us of a Capuchin friar, who carried away with hira a 

 colony of Chigoes in his foot as a present to the Scientific 

 Colleges in Europe ; but, unfortunately for himself and for 

 science, the length of the voyage produced mortification in 

 his leg, that it became necessary to cut it off to save the 

 zealous missionary's life, and the leg, with all its inhabit- 

 ants, were tumbled together into the sea.^ 



Humboldt observes '' that the whites born in the torrid 

 zone walk barefoot with impunity in the same apartment 

 where a European, recently landed, is exposed to the attack 

 of this animal. The Nigua, therefore, distinguishes what 

 the most delicate chemical analysis could not distinguish, 

 the cellular membrane and blood of an European from those 

 of a Creole white. "^ 



1 Vol. i. p. 128. 



2 Fers. Narrative, E. T, v. 101. 



