136 



APHANIPTERA. 



INSECTS WITH IMPERCEPTIBLE WINGS. ORDER 

 APHANIPTERA.* 



These insects, like those belonging to the preceding Order, are 

 wingless, .but they undergo a metamorphosis. Their body is very 

 much compressed at the sides, and the legs are formed for leaping. 

 The mouth is -provided with lancets, and performs the functions 

 of a sucking apparatus. In their larva state they resemble little 

 worms, and are quite destitute of feet. The perfect insect lives 

 upon quadrupeds and birds. This Order comprehends 



The Pleas (Pulex). The Common Flea (Pnlez, irritans] lives upon dogs, 

 cats, and men, whose blood it sucks. The female lays about a dozen eggs, 

 white and slightly viscid. These eggs give birth to larvas, which are very 



FIG. 143. METAMORPHOSES OF THE FLEA. 



active. They roll themselves up into a spiral circular form, and wriggle about 

 like minute serpents (Fig. 143, a, b, c}. In about twelve days these larvas en- 

 close themselves in a little cocoon, where they become nymphs (d], and in 

 about twelve days more issue forth in their perfect state (<?). 



Another species called the Chigoe (Pulex penetrans), very common in the 

 warm parts of America, is armed with a beak as long as its body. The abdo- 

 men of the female, when distended with eggs, grows to the size of a small pea, 

 while the insect itself is scarcely so large as our common species. It insinuates 

 itself beneath the skin and into the flesh of men and other animals, particu- 

 larly about the feet and toes, where it deposits its eggs and sometimes causes 

 great pain and ill-conditioned sores. The only remedy is to remove the eggs, 

 which are enclosed in a little bag, with a needle, an operation which the' 

 negroes perform very skilfully. 



, aphanes, hidden ; Trrepov, pteron, a - 



