her. Had he
really meant to go down with the bucket and rescue her? Daisy never had
a doubt of it herself. For the rest of the season he was the hero of the
Park. The summer guests bought him a silver collar beautifully engraved,
and Mr. Paul Gregg declared that he should propose his name as an
honorary member of the Humane Society.

But Bruno's head was not turned with all those honors. He rambled
through the fields with Daisy as he had done before, and when she put
her arms around his neck, and said that he should be her dearest friend
forever, he was happier than if his collar had been made of gold, or
than if he had been elected president of the Humane Society.

THE SMALLEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD.

BY C. F. HOLDER.

[Illustration: THE "GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE" RACE, AS SEEN THROUGH A MAGNIFYING
GLASS. (SEE PAGE 535.)]

In a former number of ST. NICHOLAS the largest circus in the world was
described, and the curious animal actors were shown in many of their
tricks and performances. We now wish to exhibit another circus, the
smallest in the world, the performers in which, numbering several
hundreds, could all be carried about in a cherry-stone--in fact, a
circus of fleas, of such remarkable intelligence that in their various
feats they were quite equal to many of the larger trained animals with
which we are familiar.

But before showing what the flea can do, let us look at its antecedents.
We know that it is a wingless fly,--a cousin to the house-flies on one
side, and to the crane-flies on the other; and a more knightly-looking
little creature you can not possibly imagine. Under the microscope we
see it covered with a rich polished armor resembling tortoise-shell. The
head is small, and supports two _antennae_ or feelers, composed of five
joints, and between these is the proboscis, a terrible affair. Upon
close examination with a powerful glass, what an array of piercing and
cutting blades are seen,--long, narrow, transparent knives, each edge
armed with a double row of glistening points that extend outward and
then are hooked backward! These are known as the mandibles, and fit
closely together, concealing another and smaller blade that has a
similar but single row of points. Besides all this, there are two
cutting-blades; the under edges are as sharp as sharp can be, while the
upper are thick and set with bristles. Do you wonder then that the flea
is so sharp a biter?

On its armored head are two large eyes;