132 THE HUMAN FLEA. 



time. Born, perhaps, in a filthy hut, the flea, depending 

 upon the great strength of its armor and its power of rapid 

 motion, boldl^^ attacks even princes born in castles. The 

 flea is decidedly a republican, who cares for neither titles 

 nor positions! To realize how great tormenters fleas can 

 become it is onh' necessar3' to enter a house tenanted by 

 them, and which has not been occupied by man for some 

 time. To get rid of them sticky fly-paper fastened to the 

 legs is an excellent remed^^, and immense numbers of fleas 

 are caught while the person thus ecjuipped ^valks over the 

 floors of infested rooms. 



In some parts of the old world fleas are exceedingly^ 

 abundant, and it seems that the more that are killed the 

 more come to attend the funeral, and their activity', their 

 energy and their appetites are prodigious. In Tom Moore's 

 words — 



"You may crush, you may smother, the flea as you will, 

 But his brothers and sisters will cling round you still!" 



We have in our own country also many localities >vhere 

 a "flea hunt" is a regular occupation of many a mother as 

 she tucks up the little ones before retiring to rest. 



The length of the reddish-brown or pitchy-brown male 

 varies from 2 to 2.5mm.; of the female from 3 to 4mm.; the 

 larva measures 3.5mm., and the egg 0.7 to 0.8mm. 



It is frequently stated that fleas multiply very rapidly 

 in sa\v-dust impregnated with liquid manure, and saw^-pits 

 near mills are said to breed even millions of them. In fact 

 many people claim that thej^ are here produced in spite of all 

 natural laws, i. e. b3' spontaneous generation. Of course the 

 latter is all nonsense, though the fact remains that such 

 places, being just suitable for the growing larvce of fleas, at- 

 tract the adult ones. Strange to say manj^ fleas obtained 

 from saw-pits in Minnesota were all specimens of the 

 human-flea. 



It is well-known that fleas have been trained to perform 

 in a kind of minute circus. Of course such fleas are not 

 really trained; they are simply forced to act in a certain 

 manner and the whole performance is a case of cruelty that 

 should not be permitted. The strength of fleas is best given 



