The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-05-04
THE FLEA is THE CHAMPION MURDERER
Causes More Deaths Each Year Than All
Reptiles and Beasts.

''If some one were to tell you of 8
creature covered with heavy armoI
of horn and provided with two large
triangular slashing weapons in addi'
tiop to two lances and very SHARP
stiletto, having the longest and most
powerful hind legs of any being in eI-
issence, so strong and powerful that
the animal could jump 500 times Its
own length, and If you were to be
further told that this creature was
abroad upon the face of the earth to-
day, causing more deaths annually
than all the Venomous reptiles and
ferocious beasts in the world, would
you not imagine that the narrator
was the victim of hallucinations far
outclassing those of the most habit
uated pipe dreamer?" asks William
Colby Rucker, in the Technical World
Magazine. DR.. Rucker Is a passed
assistant surgeon in the United States
Public Health and Marine Hospital
service.
yet" he continues, "such a crea-
fure does exist, and in many varying
forms is found in almost every quar-
ter OF the globe and upon practically
every animal having hairy coat. 1t
is only in recent years, however, that
this insect, the ,hea-there, the secret
is out-has excited anything more
than a natural curiosity on the part
of the scientists who desire to know
and catalogue every living thing upon
the surface of the earth.
almost every animal having a
coat of hair has his own particular
variety of flea. In other words, fleas
vary with their host; but one host
may harbor six different species of
heas, or one species may occupy six
different hosts. In general It may be
said, however, that each flea bearing
animal has its own choice stock with
in its flea preserves. For example,
man elects the Pulex irritans (paren-
thetically it may be noted that this
species is also chosen by the skunk
and the hog); the dog, the Glencoe
phdius NdHls, Nhiie tue luOuSS las d
little blind flea of its own.
Family Peculiaritics.
"The Ceratophyllus fasciatus, the
common rat flea of the United States,
has collar of heavy spikes about its
neck, giving it the appearance of a
Fifth avenue bulldog; the Ctenopsyl-
Ius musculi, the mouse flea, is blind;
the Ctenocephalus canis has a large
cavalryman mustache of heavy
spines; the Pulex irritans is globular
In shape and has no collar at all,
while the rabbits affinity, the Hoplop-
syllus afiinus, has two heavy clasping
plates resembling a pair of ice tongs
with which he anchors himself to his
victim.
"The flea has an oval body which
is fiattened to permit easy progress
through the hair of its host. 1t is as
though this insect had been literally
narrowed so that 1t might move with
ease in the hairy forest which it in
habits. 1t is covered, armodillolike,
with heavy plates of chitin laid on
like the shingles of house. This
chitin is a hard, hornlike substance
which is insolubale in acids, and is
dissolved only by strong alkaline So
Iutions. We thus see that the insect
has been provided by nature with an
almost impregnable defensive armor.
"At the points where the plates
overlap are the openings of the re-
spiratory apparatus, and it is through
these that the flea breathes. These
are twenty-four in number and are
the only vulnerable points on the in
sect. In fact, almost the only way to
kill f1eas, IL we except crushing and
starvation, is by means of fine, moist
dust such as buhach, which clogs the
respiratory orifices, or by poisonous
gases.
Smells with "Pygidium."
'Fitted over the tail like a saddle
and protected by an innumerable
number of fine bristles is the organ
Of smell, the pygidium. This is
roughly triangular in shape and con-
sists of platelike structure having
q number of sensory pits which look
as though hey had been punched out.
Immediately below this plate is 4
large respiratory opening which takes
the place of nostril. The air pass
ing over the pygidium to this opening
irritates the fine bristles, thus trans
mitting the sensation of smell. This
organ is very necessary to the flea
on account of the almost utter lack
Of tactile sense, and he depends very
largely upon it in hunting for food.
In common with the rest of the
animal world, If we except mankind,
the male is much more adorned than
Its better half, who is modestly ar
rayed in a neatly fitting suit of brown
armor. The ladies are inclined to be
petite, being perhaps three-fourths