1888.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 227 



teen and twenty fronds attached together, are often found, and I have picked 

 up Das ya eleo-ans of such size that a card-board at least four feet square 

 would have been required to lay it out properly. 



At the mouth of the harbor and on the opposite shore we find Ectocarptis 

 growing on Fitcus nodostis^ with many varieties of Ceramiitin^ Callitham- 

 nium^ CJiondriopsis^ etc. At Hines' Point, 6'. filameiitosa is more robust 

 than at Fort Hale, and brighter in color ; G. americana is more slender ; 

 here and at Merwin's Point, also, are CJiordaria divarlcata and C. Jiagelli- 

 forinis^ Champia parvula^ etc. 



I have examined these sea-weeds for diatoms, but have found little except 

 various Melosira^ Syitedra^ Rhabdonema^ Cocconeis, and other small or fil- 

 amentous forms. 



From Light-house Point eastward, beautiful specimens of the red Algas are 

 often found. Dasya elegans here grov^^s stouter and is more densely clothed, 

 than that growing in the harbor. This type generally dries a sepia brown 

 when mounted, while that from Fort Hale is often pink or crimson. 



During still and pleasant weather, with moon in perigee, at low tide soon 

 after sunrise, before the steamboats have begun running to stir up the sedi- 

 ment, G}'innellia A?nericana^ Dasya elegans^ and other choice specimens 

 may be seen growing oft^ Fort Hale on boulders at the bottom of six to 

 ten feet of water at lowest tide. This is an unusual sight, as these varieties 

 generally grow in too great depth of water to be seen, and are only to be 

 found when brought in by tidal currents, after having been torn off" by ma- 

 rine animals that feed upon them. They are seldom thrown upon the beach, 

 but float along in the tidal currents, and ai'e best procured by wading. I 

 have frequently brought in a larger number of specimens at one tide than 

 could have been procured during an entire season from those thrown upon 

 the beach. 



The Metamorphoses of the Dog-Flea.* 



By W. J. SIMMONS. 



I invite attention to the metamorphoses or embryonic changes of the dog- 

 flea. The insect is common enough, and troublesome enough ; and yet the 

 careful observance of its transformations needs a little maintained application 

 and forethought, and is not to be despised as a training for those higher flights 

 on which I trust some of us will shortly venture, with the view of endeavor- 

 ing to trace out the life-histor}' of the mango weevil. There is perhaps no 

 more common object in cabinets than a mounted flea ; some may own half- 

 a-dozen different kinds of mounted fleas ; but it may be doubted if the pos- 

 sessors of these cabinet museums ever take the trouble to follow a single flea 

 through the four stages of its life, or to observe for themselves how very dif- 

 ferent the full-grown insect is from himself in a previous state of existence. 



Those who have clone so will assuredly say it is far more profitable to 

 trace the life-history of one of these minute pests than merely to mount slides 

 of a dozen kinds. According to the Micrographic Dictio)iary there are no 

 less than 35 different species of ffeas. The dog, cat, fowl, marten, rat, squirrel, 

 hedgehog, mole, pigeon and bat have each their own species. Two species 

 of flea devote their hungry lives to the study of the rat, and three to that of 

 the bat. One species, a vegetarian, is found in brush-wood, and another, a 

 lover of mushrooms, Bulex boleti^ is said to infest the boletus, a fungus like 

 the common mushroom. I would ask you to make a permanent mental note 

 of these last facts, because they may throw light on the genealogy of the 



* Read before the Microscopial Society of Calcutta, March 5, 1888. 



