7 6 



INSECTS. 



In addition to mankind, fleas (Pidex) live parasitically upon other animals such 

 as dogs, cats, badgers, pigeons, fowls, moles, hedgehogs, squirrels, etc. They are, 

 moreover, even more abundant in tropical than in temperate countries. Tennent, 

 for instance, says that in Ceylon " they may be seen in myriads in the dust of the 

 streets, or skipping in the sunbeams which fall on the clay floors of the cottages. 

 The dogs to escape them select as their sleeping-places spots where a w r ood fire has 

 been kindled; and here, prone on the white ashes, their stomachs close to the 

 earth, and their hind-legs extended behind, they repose in comparative coolness, 

 and bid defiance to their persecutors." 



To the family Sarcopsyllidce 

 belongs the dreaded chigoe or jigger 

 (Sarcopsyllus penetrans) of tropical 

 countries. The adult female burrows 

 beneath the skin of the foot, and 

 shortly after effecting an entrance 



COMMON FLEA AND ITS STRUCTURE. 



b, Labium 

 palpi. 



her body becomes swollen up with 

 eggs, and grows to the size of a pea. 

 At this stage she may be easily 

 extracted, and as the young are not 

 parasitic it is seldom that serious 

 results ensue. According to Mr. 

 W. H. Blandford, " the recorded clis- 



1, Egg ; 2, Larvae ; 3, Pupa ; 4, Perfect insect ; a, Labrum ; tribution of the chigoe extends Over 

 e, Labial palpi; d, Mandil lary Tropical America and the Antilles, 



from 30 N. to 30 S., and in late 

 years it has been exported in ballast to Africa, and has established itself in Angola, 

 Loango, and the Congo." It also occurs in British Central Africa, where quite 

 recently it occasioned much suffering among the natives, and, by laming the native 

 postmen, caused delay in the transmission of mails. As in the case of the Pulicidce, 

 the fleas of this family do not confine their attentions to mankind. There is, for 

 example, a genus known as Vermipsylla, which occurs in Turkestan, and is said to 

 be very injurious to cattle ; and Mr. Blandford has recently recorded a species from 

 Ningpo in China, found buried in the ears of sewer-rats. Speaking of the occurrence 

 of the jigger in Florida, a correspondent writes that " the wooden houses are built on 

 piles,' and under them the sand is infested with jigger-fleas. All dogs are attacked 

 by them, and fowls and puppies frequently killed ; in fact, sitting hens must 

 regularly have their combs covered with lard and brimstone, and insect powder 

 dusted over their wings, to keep them alive. These jiggers are very tiny 

 and black, and do not hop like Old World fleas, but, fixing themselves into the 

 flesh, stick there, and are most difficult to remove. An English visitor who has 

 once collected eggs in a Florida hen-house, on a hot June day, will for ever 

 remember the result." 



R. I. POCOCK. 



