SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, iig 



imity to the beach has to do with their great propagation 

 because the flea is a common pest at all seaside resorts and 

 they can be seen down to the tidal margin. These persons 

 lack technical observation ; the real flea is in evidence without 

 doubt at the resorts, but not down in the salt sea sand. The 

 little hoppers called fleas are a crustacean and commonly go 

 by the name of sand fleas. It is a small species of shrimp. 



There is no actual necessity of being worried by fleas, but to 

 gain immunity persons must be less careless of their household 

 surroundings and more careful in their selection of their pets. 



The propagation of fleas is a very interesting study and can 

 be attained without mental stress. The only apparatus re- 

 quired is a clear white glass bottle of any capacity, then ex- 

 amine the mat, cloth, carpet, or the place where your dog 

 makes his general quarters. Look closely and you will dis- 

 cover some very small globular objects beautifully shining and 

 looking like pearls. These are the eggs of the flea. Place 

 them in the bottle with some shreds of paper or cloth on which 

 a few drops of blood have been placed. If. however, you have 

 no dog, but have a cat, collect the s^veepings of the room, 

 particularly from the corners or from the seams of the flooring 

 and place this refuse in a bottle as before mentioned, but with- 

 out supplying any blood, and if the eggs are present fleas will 

 be the product .just the same as by the before-mentioned 

 method. 



The eggs you thus find will hatch out, if newly laid, in two 

 days. The resultant larvae after a few moults spin a cocoon 

 in which it remains eight days, emerging ultimately as a full 

 grown flea in about sixteen to eighteen days after the egg 

 Avas deposited. 



A recent article in the "Times," of Los Angeles, gave some 

 very erroneous ideas on the habits of fleas and the limits of 

 their distribution. The reason of their prevalence on the sea 

 coast is the moisture. Moisture (not too much) is essential to 

 the breeding of the flea. "Without a certain amount they are 

 unable to complete their larval existence. Too dry air is fatal 

 to the flea, so that no fleas are to be found above 4000 fee' 

 altitude in any part of Southern California. Neither is it to 

 be found in our dry interior valleys whether elevated or not. 



