Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-08-22

u:sls, &c Mlghty.

.
col instincts-thirst for blood. re- J
pacity, cruelty, says the Washing |
ton Evening Star. He 10, farther, |
40 ingenious in devising tortures ~
he 10 untiring in the torment Of
his victims.
The flea 10 built upon lines that
make him forever hungry. But
his continuous appetite j. far from
being the oldest thing about him.
Propcstionately to size he ID the
Samson Of the universe. IL IN
elephant had the same relative
strength he could come near to over
setting the steel framed sky-scrsper.
A fies, wingless. with body ont
Of ell proportion 10 his head, and
oil over less than the sixteenth Of
an inch in length, viii leap upon .
plane surface more than 0 yard.
This. too, when he hes been hatch
ed in hair, or straw, or sand, and
never knoEn what il vas to hare Q
full meal. More marvellous still,
he viii spring psrpsndicularly up-
ward from one to two feet. Fancy
. man or boy standing fiat-footed
and all Of Q sudden leaping over Q
church spire.
Wonderful things has bean done
with fleas. They have been put
into gold collars and set TO drag
about lengths Of gold chain ct least
one hundred times their own weight.
Farther. an ingenious goldsmith
back in the leisurely seventeenth
century made Q coach and four in
ivory and gold. with 9 coachman
on the box, position aud outriders,
yet oil 60 tiny it was dragged By Q
pair Of feas, working in gold collars.
They worked under Q bell glass,
and were exhibited in London and
Paris.
To fight like cats and dogs 10 the
synonym Of continuing strife. bat
even cats and dogs do not fight %
bitterly 40 cat feas and dog fieas.
Oddly enough, the cat fleas are big,
ger than the dog feas, 20 should b
always victors. But here a. else.
whore condition tells. IL the cal
fleas are lazy and luxurious-iai
they can never grow-the small,
lean, keenbeaked dog fleas kill them
out.
The combatsnts stand up to fight
quite like PAIR of ring ornaments.
As they have six legs they have
plenty TO stand on and still spare q
couple with which TO bslabor each
other. Upon neutral ground, 90 O
floor or walk, the cat and dog fieaa
keep the peace. But let one in.
wade litter or Q coat sacred to the
other, and there 10 straightway q
fight to finish. Something even
more curious than this Unborn an
tipathy 10 that dog feas will not
live upon Q cot nor cat feas upon q
dog.
Fleas lay eggs after the insect
manner, which hatch ont tiny
wrigglers. very nearly invisible to
the naked eye, yet capable Of feed.
ing on moisture and microbes-at
least, one judges that to be the
diet, since fieas breed 90 largely in
sand, hair, straw, and litter where
other food is lacking-and after .
while spinning themselves cocoons.
The cocoons are no bigger than
tiny grains Of sand, but under the
microscope show as semi-trauslucent
ovals beautifully banded With pink
and pearl. They are formed upon
top of the matrix, whatever it
may be, where the sun or the light
can strike them fair. Rain Just at
the Matching time often kills O
whole brood Of sandfieas.
A fieas beak 10 sharp and hard,
something like q birds. only more
pointed. A flea bite 10 not poison
Gus, save and except in rare cases
where o hes has previously been
biting infected tissue. Certain
French scientists have shown that
both fisas and bed bugs could thus
carry tubercular infection. Furth-
or, rats aud rat fieas are greatly
dreaded &c helping to spread the
fearful bubonic plague.