

APTERA. 31 
Paris could see the following wonders exhibited on the Place de 
la Bourse, for sixty centimes. They were the learned fleas. I 
have seen and examined them with entomological eyes, assisted 
by a glass. 
“Thirty fleas went through military exercises, and stood upon 
their hind legs, armed with pikes, formed of very small splinters 
of wood. | 
‘Two fleas were harnessed to and drew a golden carriage with 
four wheels and a postillion. A third flea was seated on the coach- 
box, and held a splinter of wood for a whip. Two other fleas drew 
a cannon on its carriage. This little trinket was admirably 
finished ; not a screw or a nut was wanting. These and other 
wonders were performed on polished glass. The flea-horses were 
fastened by a gold chain attached to the thighs of their hind 
legs, which I was told was never taken off. They had lived 
thus for two years and a half, not one having died during 
the period. To be fed, they were placed on a man’s arm, 
which they sucked. When they were unwilling to draw the 
cannon or the carriage, the man took a burning coal, and on it 
being moved about near them, they were at once roused, and 
recommenced the performances.” 
The learned fleas were the admiration and amazement of Paris, 
Lyons, and the chief provincial towns of France, in 1825. 
But how, one will ask, was it possible in a large public room to 
see this wonderful sight? And it is necessary that this should be 
explained. The spectators were seated in front of a curtain, pro- 
vided with magnifying glasses, through which they looked as they 
would at a diorama, at landscapes or buildings. 
But let us return to the natural history of our insect. The 
female flea lays from eight to twelve eggs, which are of oval shape, 
smooth, viscous, and white. 
Contrary to what one might think, @ priori, the flea does not 
fix its eggs to the skin of its victims. She lets them drop on the 
ground, between the boards of floors, or old furniture, and among 
dirty linen and rubbish. 
M. Defrance has remarked that there are always found mixed 
with the eggs a certain number of grains of a brilliant black 
colour, which are simply dried blood. This is a provision which 


