Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/313

F L E F L E 301 before the MycetaphUidce, at the head of tlio tribe Eur.ephala of the Nematocerous section of the great division Ortliorhfipha. The community of parasitic habits with the Hippoboscidce (forest-tiies and sheep-ticks) is to a certain extent the reason for the former position ; but the earlier transformations seem to indicate a stronger relationship with the Encepkala. The general characters have been given under DIPTERA ; but the structure of the mouth of the perfect insect may be specified. The labrum is obsolete; the mandibles are represented by two flat and long processes, strengthened by a mid rib, and having very finely toothed edges, and uniting with the slender central lingua to form a puncturing lancet. When not in use, this is protected by the labial palpi, which form a sort of tube. The maxilloe are small leathery plates, and their palpi, which are four-jointed and large, have been mistaken for antennae. The power of leaping, as well known, is very great ; but there is no apparent development of tlio hind femora to account for it (as in many jumping beetles), although the posterior legs are saltatorial. The great muscular power of fleas has been long turned to account by public exhibitors in all countries, who have, under the pretence of taming or educating these minute creatures, made use of various contrivances to render the natural efforts of the insect to escape assume the appearance of trained action. An account of the methods employed will be found in the American Naturalist, vol. xi. p. 7, from the pen of Mr W. II. Ball. In some cases the steady carriage of the flea is to be traced to fracture of its jumping legs. Tlie female flea lays a few oblong white eggs, in dirty places on floors frequented by domestic animals. The larvae, before hatching, have a frontal point, used in breaking the shell of the egg. They are long and worm-like, without feet, but with two small hooks at the tail, and short antennae and mouth organs at the head. They are very active, and apparently feed upon animal substances, forming, when full grown, a silky cocoon. Many species are known, parasitic upon various animals and birds. They have been recorded as infesting the inside of rabbits ears, and the neck of a fowl, from hedgehog, mar mot, cat, dog, bat, squirrel, dormouse, ferret, weasel, hare, rabbit, rat, mouse, field-mouse, shrew, rnoor-hen, jackdaw, thrush, missel-thrush, blackbird, jay, bullfinch, chaffinch, yellow-hammer, pipit, blackcap, whitethroat, skylark, willow-wren, long-tailed titmouse, siskin, stock-dove, wood- pigeon, common pigeon, starling, swallow, &c. (though it is by no means certain that these are all necessarily of distinct specific value); and a species has been described from the common fowl in Ceylon. A large species is often found in sandy pits, near the openings of the nests of sand-martins, and a very large one sometimes occurs in wet and marshy places, probably living upon the mole. For the latter parasite, and others in which the antennae exhibit certain supposed peculiarities, a separate genus, Ceratopsyllus, has been proposed. In another flea, also found on the mole, no trace of eyes could be found, even under a high power. A very large species has been found on the Australian porcupine in Tasmania ; and Kirby, in the Fauna Horeali- Americana, described as Pulex rji jas a flea two lines long, which he believed to be the largest known. This was taken in 65 N. lat. Westwood has recorded 17 British species; and oddly enough the same number are noted from the Netherlands by Ritsema. Any notice of these parasites would be incomplete without a reference to the "jigger," "chigoe," "bicho de pe," "nigua," or "earth-flea," Dermatophilus, Sarcopsyllus, or Rhynckoprion penetrans, so well known as a burrower into the naked feet of men, in sandy localities in the West Indies and South America. So great is this pest, that serious trouble has been occasioned by it even to military expeditions in South America ; and the French army in Mexico was much troubled by it. The entry is eft ected usually under the nail, by the impregnated female, which thereupon becomes enormously distended with an immense number of eggs. Inflammation and ulceration follow this attack, and unless great care is taken in extracting the insect, serious illness and even death result. A good plate of the metamorphoses of this species is given in the volume of the American Naturalist above quoted, p. 754. For an account of the medical aspects, see Dr Laboulbune s article on the." Chique," in the Dictionnaire ncydopi diyne des /Sciences Medicates (Paris, 1875), p. 239 ; and for an exhaustive history, Guyon s memoir in the Revue et Magasin de Zooloyie for 1868 and 18G9. Much attention does not appear as yet to have been paid to the Pididdie by naturalists, except as regards the anatomy of the common species. Duges s " Recherches sur les CaracteresZoologiqucs du genre Pulex," in the Annales des /Sciences Naturdles, vol. xxvii. (1832) p. 145, and J. KunckeFs observations in the Annales de la tiocieti Entomologique de France, 5e stir, iii. p. 129, and, as regards P. irritans, W. H. Furlonge s descriptions in the journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club, 1871, p. 189, and 1873, p. 12, and C. Ritsema s in the Album der Natuur, xi. (1872), p. 65, may be specially noticed. The name "flea" is frequently erroneously applied to many jumping or lively insects not allied to the Pitli- cidce ; for instance, the " turnip-flea " is a small beetle, Phyllotreta undulata, one of the Halticidce. (E. c. K.) FLECHIER, ESPRIT (1632-1710), bishop of Nismes, a respectable author, and one of the most celebrated preachers of his age, was born at Femes, department of Vaucluse, on the 10th of June 1632, and educated at Tarascon sur Rhone, in the college of the Fathers of the Congregation of Christian doctrine, of which his uncle, Hercule Audifret, also famous in his time for his talents as a preacher, was general. After having gone through the ordinary course of studies, Fleshier entered the Congregation, and, accord ing to the constitution of the order, was immediately employed in teaching. In 1659 he became a professor of rhetoric at Narbonne, and there pronounced the funeral oration of M. de Rebe archbishop of that city. A few months afterwards, the death of his uncle called him to Paris, where he laid aside the habit of the doctrinaire, and at first followed the humble occupation of a parochial catechist. He soon made himself known by his poetical compositions in Latin and French. In 1660, he addressed to Cardinal Mazaiin a poem called Carmen Eucharisticum, celebrating the Peace of the Pyrenees : the following year he sang the birth of the dauphin in another poem (Genethlia- con} but what first made him famous was a description in Latin verse of a brilliant tournament (can-ousel), Circus Regius, given by Louis XIV. in 1662. Chapelain, the most influential critic of that time, brought his name under the notice of Colbert, with the remark, " Flechier est encore un tres bon poete latin." He was now intrusted with the education of Louis Urbain Lefevre de Caumartin, afterwards intemlant of finances and counsellor of state : and as the house of his pupil s father was then frequented by the most important personages both of the court and the city, F16chier was introduced into the best society, and soon made many friends. He had to accompany Caumartin and his family to Clermont, where the king had ordered the Grands Jours to be held (1665), and where Caumartin was sent as keeper of the seals and representative of the sovereign. There he wrote his curious Memoires sur les Grand Jours d Auvergne, first published in 1844 by Gonod, in which he relates, in a half romantic, half historical form, the pro ceedings of this extraordinary court of justice. The duke of Montausier, who had become his patron, now procured for him the situation of lecteur to the dauphin. The