540 THE PENETRATING FLEA, OR CHIGOE. 



miraculous. A Flea will drag after it a chain a hundred times 

 heavier than itself; and, to compensate for this power, will eat ten 

 times its own weight of provisions in a day. Mr. Boverich, an 

 ingenious watchmaker, who some years ago lived in London, ex- 

 hibited to the public a little ivory chaise, with four wheels, and all 

 its proper apparatus, and a man sitting on the box, all of which were 

 di awn by a single Flea. 



This little animal is produced from eggs which the females stick 

 fast, by a kind of glutinous matter, to the roots of the hairs of cats, 

 dogs, and other animals; or to the wool in blankets, rugs, or other 

 similar furniture. Of these eggs the females lay ten or twelve a day, 

 for several days successively; and they are hatched in the same 

 order, five or six days after being laid. 



From the eggs come forth, not perfect Fleas, but little whitish 

 worms, or maggots, whose bodies have annular divisions, and are 

 thinly covered with long hairs. 



In eleven days from their being hatched, they cease to eat, and lie 

 as though they were dying; but, if viewed in this state with a micro- 

 scope, they will be found weaving a silken covering around them, in 

 which they are to change into a chrysalid form. They continue nine 

 days in this shape, at first white, and afterwards by degrees darken- 

 ing their color as they acquire firmness and strength. As soon as 

 they issue from their bag, they become perfect Fleas, and are able 

 to leap away. 



THE PENETRATING FLEA, OR CHIGOE. 



This is a troublesome insect, too well known in many parts of this 

 country. It is so small as to be almost imper- 

 ceptible. Its legs have not the elasticity of 

 those of Fleas; for, if the Chigoes had as great 

 powers of leaping as Fleas, few creatures could 

 escape their attack. They are always found 

 among dust, and particularly in filthy places ; 

 they fix themselves on the legs, to the soles of 

 the feet, and even to the fingers. 



This creature pierces the skin so subtilely that the person is not 

 sensible of the attack; nor is this to be perceived till the insect begins 

 to extond itself. At first, it is not difficult to extract it; but, although 

 it in7 only have introduced its head, it makes so firm a lodgment 

 that a part of the skin must be sacrificed before it will quit its hold. 



"The Chigoe," says Stedman, "is a kind of small Sand-flea, common 

 in Surinam, which gets in between the skin and the flesh without its 

 being felt, and generally under the nails of the toes : where, while it 

 feeds, it keeps growing till it becomes of the size of a large pea, 

 causing no further pain than a disagreeable itching. In process of 

 time its operation appears in the form of a small bladder, in which 

 are deposited thousands of eggs or nits, and which, if it breaks, pro- 

 duce so many young Chigoes, that in course of time create running 



THE CHIOOE. 



