MUSEUM OF FLEAS.

Mataura Ensign, 9 March 1914, Page 7

MUSEUM OF FLEAS.

SOME TERRIBLE INSECTS. Mr Charles Rothschild, whose entomological ardor finds a curious outlet in the collection of fleas, possesses in the famous natural history museum at Tring a gallery full of insects. There are ranges of cabinets containing small phials of spirit with a flea in each, every phial labelled with the name of the animal on which the parasite was foupd. There are many hundreds of sp&cies and variations of fleas, and the flea affords more diverse material for the collector than 4.oes any other living creature. The most injurious flea in the collection at Tring is the Chigoe, or sand flea, which came from the Kerguelen Islands, in the Indian Ocean. There is also , one with claws like those of a lobster, which is found on a small bird in South America. Relatively speaking some of the fleas are more cruelly armed than the lobster and as strong to resist • pressure, as the tortoise. One of the rarest specimens in the collection i i 6 a flea of the white seal. The seal ' was brought home by a sea-faring man, ■ who was asked by Mr Rothschild to preserve it along with any parasites ■ which might .be attached to it. In this way» a new flea not averse from water was discovered. ......