SNOW-FLEAS 



February gth 



NE of the strangest of all specks on 

 snow is the snow-flea ^no mimic 

 flea, but an actual living and very 

 lively midget, whose swarms some- 

 times cover the snow in patches as 

 black as ink, or convert large spaces 

 of its surface to a dark-gray color. Like my 

 hibernating butterflies, they, too, are creatures 

 of the thaw. Almost any bright and genial day 

 in winter invites them to an outing. I have 

 seen patches two feet in diameter moving like a 

 dark shadow across the meadow, and I remember once, 

 when a boy, walking on the snow-crust over a field of 

 several acres that was everywhere peppered with their 

 millions. The books tell us that the insects live in moss 

 and lichens on the rocks and bark of trees, from which 

 they emerge for exercise in mild weather. This theory 

 is probably warranted by the facts, but it will be no easy 

 task so to convince many a rustic philosopher whom I 

 know, and to whom these fleas are as much a celestial 

 shower as the snow itself. I have talked with several 

 rural authorities on the subject, and have obtained some 

 facts which may well puzzle the scientists. " It's all easy 



