136 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



the straw or sliavings upon wbicli they sleep should be carefully burned 

 every few weelcs, as door-mats and old refuse straw arc perfect nurse- 

 ries for these insects. When the animals themselves are very much in- 

 fested with fleas, a thorough washing in strong soap-suds or a decoc- 

 tion of tobacco will drive many of them away. Professor Verrill says, 

 "to remove fleas from tlie animals themselves, a wash containing C to 

 10 per cent, of petroleum, naphtha, or benzine, well shaken together, may 

 be used; a weak solution of carbolic acid, about two or three parts to 

 one hundred parts of water, will also be efficacious." A mixture of ten 

 parts benzine, five parts soap, and eighty-five parts water has been 

 recompiended. Great care should, however, be taken not to make any 

 of these mixtures too strong, as otherwise they are very apt to injure 

 the animals to which they are applied. Camomile flowers are said to 

 be very obnoxious to fleas, and to drive them away. Persian insect- 

 l)owder, which is the powdered flowers of Fyrethrum roseiim, or caucasi- 

 cum, rubbed in among the hair, will drive off the fleas, but the animals, 

 when operated upon with it, should be taken out of doors, as a small 

 portion of this iDowder paralyzes the fleas only, and if they fall on the 

 carpet they are apt to revive in a few hours. The animal, after an ap- 

 plication of the Persian powder, should be well washed with soap and 

 water. The flowers of feverfew, camomile, and even of ox-eye daisy 

 have a somewhat similar effect, but much slighter, and when applied to 

 common house-flies appear partially to paralyze them. 



The jigger, or chigoe, Sarcopsylla pQietrans, in the extreme South, is 

 exceedingly troublesome, especiallj^ in the West Indies and South 

 America. This insect is a small species of flea, which gently insinuates 

 itself into the foot of mankind, &c., under the flesh, and generally 

 under a toe-nail. In doing so it gives no pain, but the victim feels only 

 a kind of itching sensation. When once settled, it buries itself in the 

 flesh, where it remains, and, if not removed in time, deposits its eggs, 

 the young from which burrow still deeper and cause most dangerous 

 sores. In the West Indies they are easily taken out by old negro 

 women who understand their habits, and are able to extract the whole 

 insect with a needle without rupturing the abdomen, which is greatly 

 swollen and distended, and ai)pears like a small bag filled with eggs. 

 Should the bag or abdomen burst, and the eggs remain in the wound, 

 they must be cleansed out immediately, and some substance put in the 

 wound that will destroy the eggs or young, when hatched out. One 

 chigoe that we brought from Venezuela in the toe, did not develop itself 

 perfectly until two or three weeks afterward in New Orleans, when, 

 having no old negress to cut it out, the swelling was carefully cut open 

 with a j)enknife and the insect extracted piecemeal, and the wound or 

 hole filled up with hot cigar-ashes. This remedy certainly was some- 

 what painful, but it was perfectly effectual, as no young ever made 

 their appearance, although tlie body of the parent had been burst open 

 and some of the eggs no doubt remained in the wound. If in a neigh- 

 borhood infested with these insects, a little spirits of turpentine poured 

 in the boots is said by the negroes to have the effect of driving them 

 away. 



As before stated, it is of the utmost consequence for the practical 

 ejitomologist and farmer to study in the field or from living specimens 

 the habits, transformations, and instincts of the various insects he 

 wishes to destroy, so as to find out exactly at what season of the year 

 they make their first appearance, how and where they pass the winter, 

 whether as egg, larva, pupa, or perfect insect ; what weeds or wild 

 plants they frequent, so as to extirpate them if necessary ; what sub- 



