FLANNAGAN 150 FLEA lies between them, which might be done with comparative ease and security if these portions of the work did not exist. A fire from the flanks of any bastion enfi- lades the ditch at the foot of the curtain. In architecture, the side of any building. In machinery, the straight part of the tooth of a wheel which receives the im- pulse. Flanks, in farriery, a wrench, strain, or other injury received by a horse in the back. FLANNAGAN, JOHN, an American sculptor; born at Newark, N. J. He studied under Augustus Saint-Gaudens and in Paris. Among the most important works executed by him were the monu- mental clock in the Library of Congress; a bronze relief at the Newark Public Library; and a number of porti-ait busts and heads. He was awarded many medals for the excellence of his work, and was an associate of the National Academy and a member of the National Sculpture Society. FLAT. In music, a character of the form b, which depresses the note before which it is placed, a chromatic semitone. Thus D6 signifies a semi-tone below D natural. On keyed instruments the short keys are the representatives of these flats and sharps. An accidental flat is one which, though not occurring at the com- mencement of the staff, is inserted in any other part of it, and only affects the bar in which it is placed. A flat fifth is an interval of a fifth depressed by a flat. FLATHEAD, or SALISH, INDIANS, in the State of Washington, a tribe in- habiting the region between lat. 48° and 50° N., and Ion. 117° and 121° W, They are so named on account of a practice formerly prevalent among them, of flat- tening the heads of their infants by arti- ficial means. The custom, it is said, has been abandoned by this tribe, though it still exists among several neighboring tribes, to whom the name of Flathead is not generally given. They are short of stature, and badly formed, with wide mouth, thick nose and lips, and large nostrils. FLAUBEET, GUSTAV (flo-bar'), a French novelist; born in Rouen, France, Dec. 12, 1821. His gfreatest novel was his first, "Madame Bovary" (1857). He next wrote a historical novel, "Salamm- bo," the scene laid in the most flour- ishing period of Carthage ; "The History of a Young Man" (1869)"; "The Temp- tation of St. Anthony" (1874), and "Three Stories" (1877). The posthu- mous novel "Bouvard and Pecuchet" (1881) is a satire on humanity in gen- eral. His comedy "The Candidate" (1874) failed on the stage. He died in Rouen, May 8, 1880. FLAX BRAKE, a machine for remov- ing the woody and cellular portion of flax from the fibrous. Also a machine for shortening flax staple to adapt it to be worked by a given class of machines, FLAXMAN, JOHN, an English sculp- tor and draughtsman; born in York, England, July 6, 1755, His father was a figure-molder. The son, from his earli- est years, exhibited and cultivated his talent for designing, and was also at- tracted by the picturesque conceptions of Greek mythology. He began to study at the Royal Academy in 1770, earning for some time a living by making designs for Wedgwood, the potter, and other per- sons. He went to Italy in 1787, and dur- ing the seven years he spent there, his wife accompanying him, he acquired the highest reputation by three series of de- signs, the illustrations to Homer, -lEschy- lus, and Dante. He was chosen A. R. A. in 1797, and Professor of Sculpture in 1810. The monument to Lord Mansfield in Westminster Abbey, the group of "Cephalus and Aurora," "Psyche," the group of the "Archangel Michael and Satan," are among his best works. The monuments to Nelson Howe, and Reyn- olds in St. Paul's are by his hand. ()ne of his latest and finest productions is the "Shield of Achilles." He died in London, Dec. 7, 1826. The sculptures and sketches of Flaxman are exhibited in a gallery, called the "Flaxman Hall," at University College, London. FLEA, a too well-known wingless in- sect. Pulex irritans. Though, as a rule, each species of Pulex is parasitic only on one animal, as P. canis upon the dog, P. talpse on the mole, and P. hirundinis on the swallow, yet P. penetrans is said to be an exception, and to prey on man, the dog, and the cat. The female lays in the cracks of floors or such places, a dozen of eggs, white and a little ciscous. In favorable weather they hatch in five or six days, giving exit to little footless larvae, like small worms, first white, then reddish, which roll themselves in a circle or spiral, and move forward in a serpen- tine manner. In about 12 days they in- close themselves in a small silken shell, and become nymphs. After another 12 they come forth as perfect insects. The last brood of summer continues in the larval state all winter. The flea is in- cased in armor like a mediaeval knight. It can leap 30 times its own height; it can draw with ease 80 times its own weight. A plant, Fleabane, has been said to destroy it. In Scripture, the rendering of the
