TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 



that seemed to ask if he were joking or had become 

 crazy. 



" I am speaking quite seriously," he affirmed in 

 reply to this unspoken interrogatory, which he per- 

 fectly understood; "fleas have a tender and provident 

 affection for their young. Their eggs are frequently 

 placed in the cracks of floors or amongst old furniture, 

 and almost always, side by side with the eggs, there 

 are found small black granulations that, when ex- 

 amined with the microscope, are seen to be specks of 

 desiccated blood; so that the young flea on its entry 

 into the world finds provisions ready for its use. 



" This first stock being exhausted (and this soon 

 happens, for the flea from its very birth is endowed 

 with a voracious appetite), the mother flea brings 

 to her offspring the blood with which she has gorged 

 herself, somewhat in the same way as birds give 

 beakfuls of food to their little ones. So that you see 

 these degraded insects are not so bad as uninstructed 

 people suppose." 



"Kind fleas, honourable fleas!" cried Kene*, parti- 

 ally convinced; "nothing less than this could have 

 made me respect them. I make my bow, and out of 

 respect for their good feelings I pardon them the 

 injuries they have inflicted on me." 



"Now let us turn to some of the others. After the 

 fleas that have no wings, tell me about the insects 

 that have two." 



