FLEAS AS PESTS TO MAN AND ANIMALS. i 
surface of the hair or actually drop out. The animals should be 
treated on papers spread on the floor and the insects burned after 
the dusting is completed. 
Fleas on hogs may be destroyed by dipping the animals in a vat 
containing some of the creosote dips as used for the hog louse or by 
sprinkling crude petroleum on them when they are eating. 
CONTROL OF HOSTS. 
In order to avoid the infestation of houses, it is important to keep 
all animals from beneath dwellings. In such situations breeding 
may progress rapidly, and it is very difficult to treat the breeding 
places. If fleas are continuously annoying about the household, it is 
often desirable not to admit cats and dogs at all, but to provide 
regular sleeping quarters for these animals out of doors and prevent 
flea breeding by methods suggested in the following paragraph. 
Stray cats and dogs should not be encouraged about the premises. 
In towns and cities the enforcement of the dog-tax law and the 
destruction of all untagged animals will tend greatly to reduce house 
infestations. It is also desirable to keep different kinds of animals 
which are subject to flea infestation separated, and care should be 
exercised that infested animals are not brought to clean premises and 
that infested poultry are not placed with a clean flock. 
DESTRUCTION OF FLEAS IN IMMATURE STAGES. 
Following the ridding of infested animals of adult fleas, it is 
important to destroy the immature ones which are constantly be- 
coming full grown and reinfesting animals and annoying man. In 
household infestations it is usually found that the breeding takes 
place in the cracks of floors or beneath carpets or in rooms which are 
not frequently swept, but which may be visited by pet dogs and cats. 
The carpets and rugs should be removed, the floors thoroughly 
swept, and all of the dust thus obtained burned, as it contains many 
of the eggs and maggots of the fleas. The floor should then be 
scrubbed with strong soapsuds or sprinkled with gasoline, taking 
care to avoid having fires about during this procedure. After the 
floor coverings are thoroughly aired and beaten they may be re- 
turned, but it is desirable before putting them down to sprinkle the 
floor with naphthalene crystals or pyrethrum powder. 
In flea-infested regions it is advisable to avoid the use of mattings 
and carpets. These may be supplanted by rugs or oiled bare floors. 
This permits frequent sweeping of the floors and makes the destruc- 
tion of the immature stages easier if an infestation becomes estab- 
lished. 
