BUGS. 109 



embellishment of the Natural History of Insects, died 

 in the year 1T17, at the advanced age of seventy years. 



The Louse. (Pediculus.) 



Among the Hemipterous Insects, which are distin- 

 guished from the other orders by their suctorial organs, 

 as well as by the fact that they do not undergo a 

 perfect metamorphosis, the Bugs, properly so called, 

 form a very considerable number of different species, 

 some of which, particularly those of the tropics, are 

 ornamented with the most beautiful colours. They 

 live upon animated beings, both on land and in the 

 water, also in forests, gardens and meadows, and are, 

 according to their food, either carnivorous or her- 

 bivorous. 



I trust I shall be pardoned for introducing to the 

 notice of my readers, a very disgusting Insect, which 

 seems to have been created for the purpose of punish- 

 ing inattention to personal cleanliness. 



Certain parasites, whose destiny it is to dwell upon 

 the human body, and which we call lice, have been 

 placed by Linnaeus and his follower; among the wing- 

 less (apterous) insects, but if we consider that they, 

 like the Hemipterous Insects, are provided with a 

 suctorial organ, also with air-holes for breathing, and 

 do not undergo a perfect metamorphosis, we are forced 

 to place them, like the wingless bed-bugs, in this 



