554 THE COMMON GNAT. 



a room to be unused for years, and yet, when I became its unfortunate first occupant, 

 being rendered helpless by a broken leg and dislocated ankle, the Fleas came swarming 

 in positive armies to their long-delayed feast, like the locust hosts descending upon a 

 cornfield, and caused unspeakable miseries until they were routed by continual slaughter. 

 What food these insects may have found in an empty room is not easy to say, as, though 

 the larvae might, perhaps, have continued to subsist on the feathers of the pillows, the 

 perfect insects could not eat such juiceless substances, and must either have gone 

 altogether without food, or drawn their subsistence from some unknown source. 



Another species of Flea, the CHIGOE (Pulex penetrans}, sometimes corrupted into 

 JIGGER, is a terrible pest in tropical countries, attacking human beings, and by its 

 peculiar habits causing severe injuries, unless they are checked at once. They mostly 

 attack the feet, generally preferring the bare spot just between the toe and the nail. 

 When they have made their way fairly under the skin, they swell to a very great size, 

 the body becoming about the size and shape of a sweet pea, and being filled with a vast 

 number of eggs. Generally, those who live in the Chigoe-infected regions are careful to 

 have their feet examined every day, and the offending insects dislodged with the point 

 of a needle. Sometimes, however, one may escape observation until it has obtained its 

 full development, when its only external sign is a slight swelling, with a bluish color. 

 To extract one of these swollen insects is a matter of no small difficulty, for if the body 

 be burst, and a single egg suffered to remain, the creature will be hatched in the wound, 

 and the result will be a painful festering sore. If such an event should take place, the 

 best plan is to pour a drop of spirit of turpentine into the wound, a process sufficiently 

 painful, but yet preferable to the risk of the future sores. 



The young negroes are very subject to the Chigoe, and every evening a chorus of 

 outcries is usually heard, being sounds of lamentation from the children, whose toes are 

 undergoing maternal inspection. The little creatures, with the shortsighted cunning of 

 childhood, always try to hide the Chigoe bite, in hopes of escaping the resulting needle. 

 But their cunning only meets its due reward, as when the Chigoe has made her burrow, 

 the sharp eye of the negress is sure to discover it, and then the whole nest has to be 

 excavated, and rendered untenable by red pepper, rubbed well into the hollow. Indeed, 

 if it were not for the terror inspired by the red pepper, the children would hardly have 

 a sound foot among them. 



It may seem curious that the insect should be able to burrow under the skin without 

 being discovered, but the fact is, that it sets about its work so quietly, and insinuates 

 itself so gently, that the only perceptible sensation is a slight but not unpleasant 

 irritation. 



DIPTERA. 



WE now pass to the DIPTERA, or Two-winged Insects, which may be known not only 

 by a single pair of wings, but by the little appendages at their base, called halteres, or 

 balancers, and which are the only vestiges of the hinder pair of wings. Moreover, the 

 wings are not capable of being folded. This order is of vast extent, and includes a 

 whole host of species, many being extremely minute, and many others displaying so 

 many uncertainties of form and habit, that the arrangement of this order is one of the 

 greatest difficulties with which systematic entomologists have to contend. On the 

 engraving a few examples are given of this order, for the purpose of illustrating some 

 of the principal families. 



A male specimen of the COMMON GNAT may be seen at the upper left hand of the 

 engraving, and is an example of the family Culicidae. The mouth of this pretty and 

 graceful but very annoying insect is fully as complicated as that of the flea, and under 

 the microscope is a truly beautiful object. The male Gnat, which is easily known by the 



