SARCOPSYLLA PEN-fiTRANS 



405 



2. Sarcopsylla penetrans (L.), 1758 (Jigger, Chigoe). 



About i 1-2 mm. in length ; brown in colour. The males only 

 occasionally visit man to bite ; the fertilised female, on the other 

 hand, bores into the skin with her head, particularly about the toes 

 of the host, and then attains considerable dimensions. The eggs 

 develop on the soil with a metamorphosis similar to that of the 

 common flea. 



FIG. 260. Sarcopsylla penetrans, young 

 female, highly magnified. (After Moniez.) 



FIG. 261. Sarcopsylla penetrans, 

 older female, enlarged. (After 

 Moniez.) 



The sand-flea (nigua) particularly infests Central and South America, and, 

 in 1873, was carried by ships from Brazil to the West Coast of Africa. 

 In a comparatively short time it has become disseminated throughout Africa 

 and has also appeared in Madagascar ; recently also it has been reported 

 from China. 



Besides attacking man it also settles on mammals, for instance, on 

 dogs, pigs, &c. According to Jullien the wound or little swelling caused 

 by the female has no particular significance, as children infested with ten 

 or eleven sand-fleas quietly proceeded with their games. It will be under- 

 stood, however, that the wound easily affords the opportunity for the 

 setting up of inflammation or even septic processes, as is the case in 

 any kind of wound. 1 

 



1 Taschenberg, O., " Die Flohe . . . monogr. dargrstellt." Halle, 1880. Bergh, 

 R., " Die Flohlarue als Pseudoparasit d. Mensch." (Monatsh. f. pr. Dermatologie, 1885, 

 iv., p. 209). Jullien, J., " La chique sur la cote occidentale d'Ajrique " (Bull soc. tool., 

 France, 1889, p. 93). Blanchard, R., " Quelq. mots sur la Chique" (Bull. soc. zool. 

 de France, 1889, xiv., p. 95). Blandfoord, W. H. F.. " The Chigoe in Asia " (Entomol. 

 Monthly Mag., 1894, v., p. 228). Blanchard, R., Pres. de la chique a Madagascar' 9 

 (Arch, de Paras., 1899. "> P- 62 7)- 



