UK Flea Circus Supplier

The Flea Circus Research Library has just learnt of a UK based Flea Circus Builder.

Theatrics Shop 4 Props have been making and supplying Flea Circuses to the UK and Ireland for over 5 years from their base in Carmarthenshire. Their self contained circus comes with 5 acts in a smart suitcase and a hand painted backdrop.

The fleas:
parade chariots around the ring,
fly on the trapeze,
balance on the high wire,
dive into a pool of water,
an for a finale, shoot from a cannon

Teaching tricks to spiders

Inspired by the work of Flea Circuses the chaps a BayBlab are planning on Teaching tricks to spiders

Fleas in the news

Water Flea Massacre
The vegan society has commented that they don't approve of Ecover's testing of detergents and cleaning supplies on Water Fleas. The result is that Ecover's products will no longer be able to put "vegan" on their marketing or products.
http://magicstatistics.com/2007/08/12/greenies-split-over-animal-tests-on-fleas/

Collar Thieves
Thieves have stolen $3000 worth of flea collars from an animal hospital in Oregon.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070811/NEWS/708110320/1001

Prairie Dog Plague!
A lab at Northern Arizona University has confirmed that two dead prairie dogs found near Flagstaff in Coconino County, Arizona were infected with bubonic plague. The disease is quite common in the area but no human cases have been seen since 1996.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/196051.php

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.