*THE COMMON FLEA. 



467 



in its appearance. When examined with a micro- 

 scope, it will be observed to have a small head, 

 Jarge eyes, and two short four-jointed antenna?, be- 

 tween which is the trunk, or proboscis. The body 

 appears enveloped in a shelly armour that is always 

 clean and bright : this is beset at the segments with 

 many sharp bristles. All its motions indicate agility 

 and elegance ; and its muscular power is so extraor- 

 dinary as justly to excite our wonder. We know 

 no other animal whatever whose muscular strength 

 can be put in competition with that of a Flea ; for 

 on a moderate computation, it is known to leap to 

 a distance of at least two hundred times its own 

 length. 



There is no kind of proportion between the force 

 and size of all the insect tribe. Had man an equal 

 degree of strength, bulk for bulk, with a louse or 

 flea, the history of Samson would be no longer mi- 

 raculous. A Flea will drag after it a chain a hun- 

 dred times heavier than itself: and, to compensate 

 for this force, will eat ten times its own weight of 

 provisions in a day. Mr. Boverich, an ingenious 

 watchmaker who some years ago lived in the Strand, 

 London, exhibited 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 drawn 

 by a single Flea. He made a small landau, which 

 opened and shut by springs, with six horses harness- 

 ed to it, a coachman sitting on the box, and a dog 

 between his legs : four persons in the carriage, two 

 footmen behind it, and a postillion riding on one 

 of the fore-horses, which was also easily drawn along 

 Hh 2 



