THE COMMON FLEA 263 



comes upon it; never hitherto have its mouth-organs 

 been adapted for taking liquid food, but now it is fur- 

 nished with the extraordinary collection of lancets 

 referred to on p. 253, and would find it equally difficult 

 to partake of solid aliment. Those larvae which hatch 

 from eggs laid towards the beginning of winter do not 

 pass through their metamorphoses so quickly, but spend 

 the winter in the larval state, remaining in a torpid 

 condition till the warmer weather comes round and 

 wakes them into renewed activity, and enables them to 

 complete their cycle of changes. The flea, then, is an 

 insect with a complete metamorphosis, therein differing 

 in toto from both the bed-bug and the cockroach, and 

 agreeing with Dipterous flies in general. 



Fleas do not seem to be confined to human habitations ; 

 there is a common belief that sandy sea-shores are 

 infested by them, and that visitors to such spots may 

 expect to return home "with company." In support of 

 this notion may be adduced a statement made by Mr. 

 T. J. Bold before the Tyneside Naturalists' Club about 

 twenty-eight years ago, to the effect that he saw fleas 

 " dancing about quite merrily between Hartley and 

 Whitley, and at other times they have been noticed quite 

 frequently from South Shields to Marsden." There are, 

 no doubt, many fragments of animal remains scattered 

 about amongst loose sand, such as would serve very well 

 for the larvae to prey upon ; but what the perfect insects 

 can find to live upon in such situations is a mystery, for 

 it can hardly be maintained that they frequent the spot 

 with a view to possible human visitors. 



That fleas can be excluded from houses by the use 

 of odoriferous plants has long been a firmly believed 

 tradition, witness the name of our common wayside 

 plant, the fleabane. The smoke of this when burnt was 



