HABITS OF THE FLEA. 593 



hide themselves during the day-time. In due course of time 

 these eggs are hatched, and produce larvae in the shape of 

 tiny white grubs. These larvse are entirely without feet, hut 

 push themselves along by means of the hairs which are attached 

 to the segments of the body. The last segment has two little 

 hooks, the use of which is rather obscure. Perhaps they may 

 be used in order to afford a fulcrum by which the body can be 

 retracted, just as the stiff hairs afford points by which the 

 creature can be urged forward. 



Be this as it may, the larvse are very active little beings, 

 twisting about with great agility, something like those £)f the 

 gnat. The food of this larva is said to consist of the fleshy 

 part of the feathers and the blood of animals, but I very much 

 doubt this statement. I do not venture to deny that the larva 

 will feed on these substances, when it can get them ; but, 

 seeing that at least ninety-nine per cent, of Flea-larvse now 

 living must have been without access to mammalian blood, or 

 fresh feathers, this kind of food cannot be universal. Indeed, 

 I have often wondered how Fleas support life, and, unless they 

 feed on each other, I can scarcely understand their mode of 

 supporting existence. 



When I was at school, I had the misfortune to suffer a 

 simultaneous dislocation and fracture of the ankle, and was 

 conveyed to the infirmary, a large room at the top of the house. 

 Now, this room had been without tenants ever since I re- 

 membered it, and I believe that for at least seven years no 

 human being had entered the room, except to open the win- 

 dows in the morning and shut them at night. The room was 

 kept most scrupulously clean, and no one even imagined that 

 a Flea was in it. 



That the room was tenanted by these insects I found to my 

 own proper cost. No sooner was the candle put out than a 

 simultaneous attack was made on me in all directions. From 

 every part of the room Fleas came in battalions. There was a 

 nurse in the room, who was one of those persons that are either 

 impervious or objectionable to Fleas, and she escaped them 

 entirely, while they concentrated all their energies on me. 



Now, a damage such as I had suffered is not conducive to 

 rest, even witli all appliances. The limb swells, until the skin 

 feels almost unable to resist the tension, and the burning heat 



Q Q 



