36 



to the heads of children, especially of such as are wont to make chance acquaintances. 

 The insect itself is of a venturesome disposition, as Burns has sung : — 



" Ye ugly, creepin' blastit wonner, 

 Detested, shunn'd by saunt and sinner, 

 How dare you set your fit upon her, 



Sae fine a leddy ! 

 Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner 



On some poor body." 

 ***** 



" Now haud you there, ye're out o' sight, 

 Below the fatt'rils, snug and tight ; 

 Na, faith ye yet ! ye'll no be right 



Till ye've got on it, 

 The vera topmost, tow 'ring height, 



O' Miss's bonnet !" 



Perhaps Burns regarded the louse too unfavourably. There is reason to believe that 

 the insect has brought distinction to at least one noble family. Quartered, 2nd and 3rd, 

 in the arms of the Earl of Lathom are those of Bootle : — 



"Gules on a chevron, engrailed, between three combs argent, as many crosses patee, fitchee of the field." 



The combs are represented as veritable " small tooth-combs." Under what circum- 

 stances the distinction was granted I know not. It may be that in former days some 

 lady of the Bootle line proved herself particularly useful in the royal nursery ; or that the 

 suzerain observed, on some noteworthy occasion, that each retainer brought into the field 

 by the head of that family, was, with his familiars, truly a host ; or that in the days 

 when hair-shirts were seldom changed, and St. Jerome's advice to Bustique, " Never 

 flatter the body by the use of the bath," was held in high esteem, some particularly 

 saintly Bootle — perchance on his return from pilgrimage — was honoured by his king in 

 having allotted to him the suggestive combs and crosses, " ut reg." as Debrett has it. 

 However the case may be, we have here an instance of a noble family attaching import- 

 ance to its " small tooth combs '; and we learn from it that things aristocratic and things 

 vulgar are sometimes brought into juxta-position. 



Leeuwenhock has told us that the increase from one female louse may in eight weeks 

 number five thousand. No wonder that the lodgement of a creature so fecund is dreaded. 

 The eggs or " nits " of the louse hatch in eight days ; and the young attain their growth 

 in less than a month. The insect is wingless. Its abdomen is large and has nine seg- 

 ments. Each of six legs terminates with a hook. Its antennas are filiform and five- 

 jointed. It has a retractile beak or sucker. Its eyes are not faceted. 



A comb smeared with white precipitate ointment and run through the child's hair 

 will soon dispose of this obnoxious pest. 



5. The Flea (Pulex irritans) belongs to the family Pulicidce in the order Diptera. 



The eggs of the flea, which are oval and one forty-fifth of an inch in length, are laid 

 in hearth rugs, etc., or in the fur of animals, from which they are shaken to the floor or 

 ground. The larvaa live in the dust and dirt, and feed on decaying vegetable substances. 

 They are footless, long, and somewhat hairy ; and, at the end, they have two long spines. 

 In colour, the head is honey-yellow, the rest of the body, white. The antennas are three- 

 jointed. These larva? attain their growth in twelve days, and then form a silken cocoon 

 in which they undergo the pupal change. The insect remains in pupa about two weeks. 

 In the perfect flea, the body is compressed, the wings are represented by minute scales on 

 the thorax ; the beak or rostrum is formed both for laceration and suction ; the eyes are 

 simple ; the skin is polished and horny, and set with sharp bristles pointing backwards; 

 the long, hindmost pair of legs are formed for leaping. A flea can leap thirty times its own 

 height. 



Dogs and cats troubled with fleas should be frequently washed with strong soap-suds. 

 To banish tleas from the house old Tusser's remedy (quoted by Kirby and Spence) maybe 

 tried : — 



' ' While wormwood hath seed get a handful or twain 

 To save against March, to make flea to refraine, 

 Where chamber i.-> sweeped and wormwood is strown, 

 r iiis life dare abide t<> be known." 



