Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

250 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTallies of Auld Reekie, when spending a night in aherder's cabin on the summit of the Smokies, thatI have* arisen in desperation and rubbed myself fromhead to foot with kerosene. That settled the fleas.Citronella will do as well.If you catch a flea, don't try to crush it, for youcan't, but roll it between the fingers ; that break?its legs; than you can open your fingers and kill it.A good way, if water is handy, is to keep a tightgrip until you get your thumb and finger into somewater — a flea can't swim — then, if it is not alreadyfilled with blood, it will sink, and drown, andgo to meet its reward, which, let us hope, is a hot one.When you have to occupy a cabin infested withfleas, scrub it out with hot soapsuds, and see thatthe site is well wet beneath the floor. Fleas willnot stay in a wet place.Blood-Sucking Flies.—In northern forests wehave several species of flies that attack man. Thedeer-fly or '' bull-dog " is a small gad-fly that drivesher dagger-like mandibles into one's skin so viciouslythat she takes out a bit of flesh and makes the bloodflow freely. The black-fly {Similium molestum) isa stout, hump-backed, black termagant with transparentwings, from one-sixth to one-quarter inchlong. This creature is a common nuisance of theforests and along the streams of northern New England,the Adirondacks, the Lake region, and Canada.She keeps busy until late in the afternoon, poisoningeverything that she attacks, and raising a painfullump as big as a dime at every bite. Closely relatedspecies are the buffalo-gnat and turkey-gnat of theSouth, which sometimes appear in incredible numbers,driving animals frantic and setting up an inflammatoryfever that may prove fatal. Blackfliesand their ilk are easily driven away by smudges.Mosquito dopes will protect one from them.Blow-Flies.— Worst of all flies, though fortunatelyrare in the North (it has been known to reachCanada), is the screw-worm fly {Compsomyia macellaria),a bright metallic-green insect with golden re-