116 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



Besides being wingless, the antennae are 3-14 jointed, lodged 

 in a cavity behind the eyes; their mandibles are long with 

 serrate edges; the maxilke are short, the palps being 4- joint- 

 ed, and the labial palps are also 4-jointed. The labrum is 

 distinct, but there is no hypopharynx. The body is ovate 

 and much compressed; there are only two simple eyes, no 

 compound or faceted eyes. The edges of the head and 

 prothorax are armed with stout spines directed backwards, 

 and the entire form of the body and arrangement of parts are 

 in adaptation to the peculiar mode of life of these insects, 

 which live under or among the hairs of man and certain 

 mammals and the feathers of certain birds. 



The cat-flea lays eight or ten eggs, which fall on the floor 



Fig. 134.— Dog or cat flea ( Pulex ranis), a, maxillary palpi ; b, maxillae (should 

 be longer and pointed); c, labial palpi; d, mandibles. Larva of the cat-flea: 

 a, antenna; b, end of the body. 



and there hatch, the larvae living in the dust and dirt on 

 the floor, and feeding on it. In about twelve days after 

 hatching the larva? spin a silken cocoon, the pupa being 

 inactive, and remaining in this state from eleven to sixteen 

 days. 



A serious torment of sandy, hot regions in the tropics is 

 the jigger, chigoe, chique, or pique, Sarcopsylla penetrans, 

 which during the dry season bores into the toes of natives, 

 especially under the nails, causing a distressing sore. 



Family Pulicidae. — With the characters of the order. Pulex irritans 

 Linn., the human flea; P. canis Duges, the flea uf the dog and cat. 



