FLIES, MOSQUITOES, AND MIDGES 



241 



have the merest rudiments of wing-pads. The posterior legs are 

 strongly developed, so that they are able to jump a considerable 

 distance. In the adult stage they live upon various warm-blooded 

 animals, sucking their blood. The eggs are scattered about in the 

 sleeping places of domestic animals and in the cracks of floors. 

 The larvae are wormlike creatures, with a distinct head, but without 

 legs. They have biting mouth-parts, and feed upon particles of 

 decaying animal and vegetable matter always abundant in the 

 places in which they live. The full-grown larva spins a cocoon in 

 which the pupal stage is passed. In view of these habits, in addition 

 to cleansing domestic animals it is also necessary to thoroughly 

 clean the sleeping places of cats and dogs, to scrub the floors, 

 and to treat large cracks, in which rubbish may accumulate, with 

 gasoline, kerosene, or a similar contact insecticide. In temperate 

 climates the common species which lives upon dogs and cats is 

 the only one often troublesome to human beings ; in the tropics 

 fleas are much more abundant, and attack man as well as the 

 domestic animals. 



FIG. 384. Cat and dog flea (Ctenocephalus cant's). (Much enlarged) 



a, egg ; , larva in cocoon ; c, pupa ; </, adult ; e, mouth-parts from side ; /, antenna ; g, 

 labium from below. (After Howard, United States Department of Agriculture) 



