What is a Flea?

   A flea is a wingless, blood-sucking insect about 1/16 inch long. A parasite af man and other mammals, it has mouth parts formed for piercing and sucking. Its eggs are laid in unclean places and the maggot larvae are legless and equipped for biting. The complete metamorphosis from larva to pupa to flea takes from four to six weeks. The flea is remarkable for its strength and agility, being able to leap a distance of 200 times its length. Several species are known to be active in spreading the bacilli of bubonic plague by sucking the blood of infected rats and then the blood of man. Other diseases are similarly transmitted.