PULEX PENETRANS. 193 



PULEX PENETRANS, 



The Chegoe. 



Pl. XXVII. fig.Z. 



Order Syphonaptera, Latr. Family Suctoria, De 



Geer. 



Gen. Char. Body oval, compressed, covered with a 

 coriaceous skin, and composed of several segments ; 

 antenna lamelliform, small, four-jointed ; feet six ; 

 rostrum jointed, formed of two plates inclosing a 

 sucker. 



Spec. Char. Rostrum as long as the body. 



Pulcx penetrans ; Swartz, in Kongl. Vet. Ac. Nya. band. ix. 40, t. 23, f. 10. 



One of the most troublesome and noxious insects of the low 

 regions of South America and the West India Islands is the 

 Chegoe, a small species of flea, with a rostrum as long as the body, 

 which often introduces itself into the skin of the inhabitants, 

 usually under the nails of the toes, where it deposits its eggs, and 

 produces malignant and occasionally fatal ulcers. It is a very 

 minute insect, being one-fourth the size of the common flea, 

 pale reddish-brown simi-transparent or shining, with the legs 

 of a pale blueish or lead, colour. According to Ulloa, and his 

 opinion is confirmed by Jussieu, there are two South American 

 species of this insect. It is described as generally attacking the 

 feet and legs ; but, according to Capt. Hancock, it will penetrate 

 any exposed part of the body. At first it occasions no farther 

 uneasiness than a slight itching and heat ; in process of time, how- 



s 



