Flea
a too well-known wingless insect. Pulex irritans. Though, as a rule, each species of Pulex is parasitic only on one animal, as P. canis upon the dog, P. talpæ on the mole, and P. hirundinis on the swallow, yet P. penetrans is said to be an exception, exception, and to prey on man, the dog, and the cat. The female lays in the cracks of floors or such places, a dozen of eggs, white and a little ciscous.
In favorable weather they hatch in five or six days, giving exit to little footless larvæ, like small worms, first white, then reddish, which roll themselves in a circle or spiral, and move forward in a serpentine manner. In about 12 days they inclose themselves in a small silken shell, and become nymphs. After another 12 they come forth as perfect insects. The last brood of summer continues in the larval state all winter. The flea is incased in armor like a mediæval knight. It can leap 30 times its own height; it can draw with ease 80 times its own weight. A plant, Fleabane, has been said to destroy it.
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