Washington DC it's a Flea Circus

Many times people have commented that there's a flea circus in Washington referring to presumably the industriousness of the politicians. However, later this month there is a real flea circus arriving in Washington DC. The Acme Miniature Flea Circus will be at the Palace of Wonders on Sunday August 26, 2007 at 4pm and 8 pm.

MORE INFO: http://www.palaceofwonders.com
MORE INFO: http://www.trainedfleas.com

Puces Industrieuses

Thanks to La Bibliothèque nationale de France I now have yet more translation work to complete. They have sent me a copy of L. Bertolotto's "Histoire De La Puce avec Notes et Observations" with an introduction by Mon. Barillon, a lawyer. There appears to be some interesting additional notes here that are not in the London version that I have from the British Library

More flea poop

Thanks to another visit to the Wellcome Library I've discovered that fleas do poop. A researcher called Nöller studied dog fleas and commented that "the insect defecated from seven to fifteen times during a feed", "the last material voided being red fluid blood". Nöller also found that human fleas pooped 10 to 20 times in half an hour. Nöller's experimental rig was described as a "circus method of controlling single fleas" and consisted of wrapping the flea with a loop of fine silver wire as shown in the diagrams below.

The text book also covers details of flea mating, experiments in India with regards to rat fleas and disease propagation and a detailed description of the parts of a flea.

Ref: A textbook of Medical Entomology by Walter Scott Patton and Francis William Cragg 1913.

Fleas on Dartmoor

Professor Malcolm Jephcott is letting his fleas get a bit of fresh air this months. He's performing his Victorian flea circus at Becky falls woodland park Dartmoor Devon. The shows will involve acts from Fleavel Knievel and Bruno the strong flea. Performances will be everyday at 1:45 and 4 o' clock from 21 July thru till 2nd September.

Fleas with Shoes

Back in the nineteenth century the King of England wanted to demonstrate the skills of English craftsmen. He had them build a life size model of a flea and sent it to the Czar of Russia. The Czar asked his craftsman to do better and the man returned to the Kremlin with a seemingly identical Flea. "But it's the same flea" exclaimed the Czar. "No, No," protested the craftsman, it has boots on.

Nikita Krushchev Russia's prime minister told this story when he visited England to explain the saying "The Russian craftsman puts on the shoes of the English flea."



Since then, at least two Russian artists have recreated the flea. Nikolai Siadristy from Ukraine showed his at the Warsaw Museum of Technology in 2002 and later in the Museum of the Microminiature in the Lavra Monastery. Anatoly Konenko also created a shod flea and it took him 7 years to do it. Anatoly exhibited his work in Ulyanovsk in 2003.

National Flea Week

National Flea Week starts next week and runs from 25th June to 1st July. This the second National Flea Week and is taking place at nearly 900 vet surgeries across the UK offering expert advice about checking and treating pets for fleas. Flea Week is timed to coincide with the increase in warm weather that fleas love. The current conditionals are ideal for fleas to hatch out and one pair of fleas can multiply to 1000s in just 21 days.

“During National Flea Week we hope to raise the awareness of the fact that if a pet has fleas, so does the home. Adult fleas on a pet are just the tip of the iceberg; in fact they are only 5% of the whole infestation.” commented Rebecca Stevenson, FRONTLINE® Veterinary Technical Manager.


National Flea Week is supported by Merial Animal Health, manufacturers of FRONTLINE Combo® and FRONTLINE® Spot On to help prompt pet owners to treat regularly for fleas and avoid any unnecessary suffering fleas may cause.

http://www.nationalfleaweek.com/

National Flea Week 25th June – 1st July 2007.

Bonkers!?

Many thanks to Bonkers Fest this weekend who hosted many splendid exhibitions and bands and raised money for a range of good causes.


Of course I was there for the Insect Circus Museum who had dropped me an invite via MySpace. The museum had a fantastic range of models, playbills, posters, costumes and props from Insect Circuses. The museum charts different acts through time with it's range of colourful and educational exhibits and their proprietor was entertaining and knowledgeable.

One lady who seemed a little scared by the size of the exhibits, paused to recount a story of how her grandmother had seen ballerina fleas in the North East many years ago. It's good to bump into other insect fans and I am looking forward to seeing their live act later in the year.