264 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



held to be particularly distasteful to fleas, which would 

 forthwith abandon any premises in which they detected 

 it. Several species of Compositse have been credited with 

 this potency. A preparation made from the leaves of a 

 Pyretlirum from the Caucasus was at one time exten- 

 sively used in Russia for driving away fleas. Wormwood 

 (Artemisia) also was believed to possess similar powers, 

 and Tusser has the following lines in illustration : 



" While wormwood hath seed, get a handfull or twaine, 

 To save against March, to make flea to refraine ; 

 Whelre chambere is sweeped and wormwood is strown, 

 No flea for his life dare abide to be known." 



The "sweeped chambere" had no doubt quite as much 

 to do with the matter as the wormwood. In folk-lore 

 the ist of March is intimately associated with fleas. It 

 is still a practice in Kent to keep the doors shut on that 

 day for the same purpose, and thus it is believed that 

 immunity from their attacks will be secured for a 

 twelvemonth. 



The muscular strength of the flea, like that of insects 

 in general, is, in proportion to its size, exceedingly great. 

 In instituting numerical comparisons, however, between 

 it and the higher animals, by way of illustrating this 

 fact, there are many points, not altogether obvious at 

 first sight, which need to be considered before we can be 

 satisfied that we have got results that are reliable, and 

 not merely exaggerated and sensational statements 

 devoid of any scientific value. For example, a flea is said 

 to be able to leap to the height of a foot, which, taking 

 the insect as a large female, is about a hundred times its 

 own length ; and it is commonly assumed that this is a 

 stupendous feat, corresponding in magnitude to what we 

 should get if, for the sake of comparison, we were to 



