594 Insects. 
Order VIII. Sudor ia. 
These insects are without wings. The mouth is fur- 
nished with a trunk or beak, formed to wound as well as 
to suck. 
THE FLEA, (Pulex irritans,) 
Is one of those little creatures with which want of clean- 
liness in mankind is punished. It is one of the most 
annoying insects that infest the human race, as, by its 
leapings, it often escapes being caught. It is oviparous, 
and the egg, which is hardly discernible with the naked 
eye, contains at maturity a small white worm., beset with 
hairs. This worm soon spins for itself a little silk co- 
coon, from which the perfect insect issues. The Flea is 
an active, troublesome, blood-thirsty insect ; it has a small 
head, large eyes, and a roundish, but compressed body, 
which is covered with a kind of armour resembling the 
tortoise shell in colour and transparency. The plates of 
which this skin is composed are also armed with spines 
or bristles. It has six legs, two of which are much longer 
than the others, in order to enable the insect to make 
such wondrous leaps, as to raise the body above two 
hundred times its diameter. The great strength and 
agility of the Flea are well known, from the exhibition 
of the industrious Fleas. 
