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Insects and Disease 



it was not the rats that they were after primarily. 

 If the rats had not harbored fleas the city would 

 have been glad to let the disease take its course and 

 destroy as many rats as possible. But it was found 

 that the only way to get rid of the fleas that might 

 possibly be infected with the plague was to kill 

 their rat hosts. 



General cleaning-up measures will of course 

 very materially lessen the number of fleas about the 

 private dwellings, but there often remains a num- 

 ber of fleas in the house that are a source of great 

 annoyance even if the danger is eliminated. 



Particularly is this apt to be so in places where 

 cats or dogs are members of the household. These 

 animals almost always harbor at least a few fleas, 

 and where there are a few there is always a possi- 

 bility, even a great probability, that there will be 

 many more unless an effort is made to get rid of 

 them. 



In some sections of the country it is the cat and 

 dog flea that is the most troublesome to man. The 

 minute white eggs of the fleas are usually laid about 

 the sleeping-places of these animals and the slender 

 active larvae that hatch from them feed upon any 

 kind of organic matter that they can find in the 

 dust or in the cracks and crevices. About eight or 

 ten days after hatching the larvae spin delicate 



