Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-01-27

Fleas love dirt. and in it they flourish aud
multiply most abundantly. But in spite Of
st. Domuie's curse and their mclean
hauuts, they are interesting little fellows.
Let US put one under the microscope. II
seems TO be clothed in "A sort of armor form
ed of brown overlapping plates, that are SO
exceedingly tough as to be almost indie
structble Its head is small and very thin,
and it has "A single eye upon each side This
eye is black, aud the rays Of light scintilate
within it like sparks of fire Puget man
aged to look through one of these eyes, and
he found that it diminished objects in size,
while it multiplied them in number, "a man
appearing like an army of fairies, and the
flame of candle becoming a thousand tiny
stars, From the shape of its head, and for
other reasons, the flea is supposed to use
only one eye at time. The offensive
weapon of the flea is composed of two pal
pi, or feelers, two piercers and "A tongue.
When it feeds it stands erect thrusting
this sucker into the flesh and it will eat
without intermission until disturbed for it
vods as fast as it swallows its food 1t is in
teresting to put several in glass and, Civ
ing them a piece of raw meat, see them all
standing on their hind legs 10 suck up its
juices.
Their manner of breathing is still unde-
that they receive all into their bodies
through small holes at the end of the palpi.
The legs of flea are marvels of strength
and elasticity They are joined to the body
by long tendons that act like wire springs.
In making its leap, which, it is said, can
cover two hundred times its own length,
the flea draws the leg close up to the body,
and then throws it out with great force
but the impulse proceeds from the first
joint alone, the others only increasing it by
their stretch while the leap is being made.
Fleas are possessed of great strength.
MOuffet tells of a mechanic who made gold
chain, as long as his finger, that flea
dragged after him. and a golden chariot,
which he drew also. Bingley writes of
matchmaker in the Strand who had an
ivory four-wheeled chaise, with a coach
man on its box, drawn by flea. The
same man afterward made carriage with
six horses a coachman, four persons inside,
two foOtmen behind, and a position on one
of the horses, all of which were drawn by
single flea. Latrielle mentions a flea
which dragged silver cannon, of twenty
four times its own weight, mounted on
wheels, and showed no fear when it was
charged with gunpowder and fired of.
Rene says that he saw three feas drawing
tiny omnibus that a pair drew a chariot,
and that a brass cannon was dragged by
single one.
There are several varieties of heas, but
they are so much alike that their differences
are interesting only to scientific people.
The cat flea will do as well as any to show
| us the process of breeding. During the
spring and summer months she simply
| drops her eggs into the fur of the cat, but
in the autumn and winter she CLUES each
| firmly upon hair. These eggs are so small
as to be barely visible to the naked eye but
under the microscope they are very beauti
| full, looking like the loveliest pearls and
are perfectly translucent The flea depos-
its nearly two hundred at time, running
about and dropping them here and there.
They soon hatch into small, white, footless
worms. In from one to two weeks they 20
into cocoon Nothing can be prettier than
this cocoon. | wish | could show it to you,
but will try to describe it. 1t is like a flask
of clear glass, tinged at the edges with
pearly tints, and dotted over with gold.
The little sleeper within lies in circle, is
rose colJred, and looks like the delicate
petal of flower. In about six weeks he
reaches maturity. At first he is not larger
than a mite, but when well fed grows
quickly in size and strength
Fleas are quarrelsome and great fighters.
When several are confined in glass, they
VIII stand on their hlnd legs, striking at
their opponents with the others, and roll
over and over each other, losing legs and
antennR, and at last giving up their lives
in the fight. There is a record of flea
which lived ten days after such AN eucount-
er, with no antennm three plates of his
side broken in one eye gone and with
only four legs and these cut off to the first
joints.
Fleas are supposed to feel a great an
tipathy to wormwood and other bitter
herbs and, in England, the country people
have habit of placing these about their
cottages for the purpose of banishing the
lively little pests.-S. L. CiayeS, S,ciSS
!