Vol. XXXIX. November, 1920. No. 5 



BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN 



NOTES ON PEDICULUS VESTIMENTI. 



KATHARINE FOOT. 



The following notes are a curtailed record of two years' work 

 on the body louse, when I was serving as a volunteer in the 

 American Red Cross in Paris. 



I undertook this work at the request of Dr. Alexander Lam- 

 bert who was then at the head of the research department of the 

 American Red Cross. 



My reports were presented as contributions from the Foot and 

 Strobell laboratory because a legacy left me by my friend Miss 

 E. C. Strobell made it possible for me to give my entire time to 

 the work and to pay the current expenses of my laboratory. 



I am greatly indebted to the late Professor Blanchard for giv- 

 ing me space in his laboratory at the ficole de Medecine and for 

 many other courtesies in connection with my work, and I am 

 much indebted also to. Professor Langeron, a member of Pro- 

 fessor Blanchard's staff in the department of parasitology. 



Although any official obligation to the Red Cross was ended 

 when the research department was closed it has in no way altered 

 my sense of obligation to continue my work with the hope of con- 

 tributing some data that may serve in adding at least some con- 

 trol to the activities of the body louse, for this insect is nothing 

 less than a curse not only to the armies but to those races which 

 are forced to live under unsanitary conditions. 



The first few months of investigation were necessarily devoted 

 to a study of the life cycle of Pediculus vestimenti, an accurate 

 and detailed account of which had already been published by 

 several English investigators. Many years of experience in rais- 

 ing other species of Hemiptera led me to adopt slightly different 

 methods of laboratory technique than those used by other inves- 

 tigators in their breeding experiments. These methods are de- 



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