190 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



sleeping, and trouble weaned and sick persons ; 

 from whom they escape by skipping ; for as soon as 

 they find they are arraigned to die, and feel the fin- 

 ger coming, on a sudden they are gone, and leap 

 here and there, and so escape the danger ; but so 

 soon as day breaks, they forsake the bed. They then 

 creep into the rough blankets, or hide themselves in 

 rushes and dust, lying in ambush ibr pigeons, hens, 

 and other birds, also for men and dogs, moles and 

 mice, and vex such as passe by. Our hunters report 

 that foxes are full of them, and they tell a pretty 

 story how they get quit of them. The fox, say they, 

 gathers some handiuls of wooll from thorns and 

 briars, and wrapping it up, he holds it fast in his 

 mouth, then goes by degrees into a cold river, and 

 dipping himself close by little and little, when he 

 finds that all the fleas are crept so high as his head 

 for fear of drowning, and so lor shelter crept into the 

 wool, he barks and spits out the wool ful of fleas, and 

 so very froliquely being delivered from their molesta- 

 tion, he swims to land.'* 



This is an excellent trick certainly for a flea-bitten 

 fox on a summer's day ; but a little more doubtful even 

 than the story told of Christina, Queen of Sweden, who 

 is reported to have fired at the fleas with a piece of 

 artillery, still exhibited in the royal arsenal at Stock- 

 holm. | Her Majesty ought to have made an expe- 

 dition to Tiberias, where, as an Arab Sheikh informed 

 Dr Clarke, ' the king of the fleas held his court. 'J 

 Nor are fleas confined to the old continent, for Lewis 

 and Clarke § found them exceedingly harassing on the 

 banks of the JNIissouri, where it is said the native 

 Indians are sometimes compelled to shift their quar- 

 ters, to escape their annoyance. They are not ac- 



* Theatre of Insects, p. 1102. 



t Linnaeus, Lachesis Lapon. , ii, 32 ; Note. * 



i Travels, vol. ii. § Travels, 



