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MALLOrilAlSA OK OIK NAIIVK lUUDS. 



Edwin J. Koiir,. 



The Miill(.|.li!i;,M or l)itiii« hinl lice (■(.iistitiitc ji ^Tdup of insects that 

 aiipiirciilly cxfiti' little curiosity in the iivciafie imlividuul. Moreover, liee 

 ill general are looked upon with disdain. Nevertheless, they do liold an 

 interest for some individuals, tliose who do not liold themselves aloof from 

 tiiese minute parasites, and hold no fear of infestation. 



The earliest wi'itings in whicli lice were mentioned and received attention 

 were those of Francesco Redi. an Italian naturalist, in 166S. Other writ- 

 ing's followed hy such men as Otto Fabricino (1780), De Geer (1778), and 

 Linne (1789). Xot much truly scientific work was done by these men; it 

 was rather haphazard. Christian Ludwit; Nitzs(;h, Professor of Zoology 

 in the University of Halle, did the first real work that is recognized today. 

 His descriptions were excellent. lie made an attempt at classifying and 

 naming tlie Mallophaga. This, the beginning of our present day nomen- 

 clature, gave an impetus to real work along these lines. Such men as 

 1 >enny, Giebel, Piaget. Taschenberg and others, continued the work witli 

 excellent results. 



Most of this early work was along taxonomic lines, that of describing, 

 naming and classifying, but a few men, Kramer, Melnikoff, and Grosse did 

 some work on anatomy. The work of Grosse in itself was not of a high 

 order. No special attention was given to accuracy of description and draw- 

 ings, consequently the work was crippled somewhat imtil our modern 

 entomologists revised and improved upon it. 



In this country Herbert Osborn and A. S. Packard did the first work of 

 any consequence. Osborn's "Pediculi and Mallophaga affecting man and 

 the Lower Animals" was the first real attempt in this respect. It was by 

 no means complete. Much remained to be done. It was at this point that 

 Vernon Kellogg took up the investigation of Mallophaga. He made ex- 

 tensive collections, aimed at completeness in every respect. He made col- 

 lections from most of the common birds of ]yorth America. Special atten- 

 tion was paid to classification, to accurate descriptions and very accurate 

 drawings. The internal anatomy was completely worked out. Furthermore, 

 the old Nitzschian nomenclature was revised and brought up to date. In 

 every way the work was of a higli order and set a new standard in Mallo- 

 pliagan lines. 



The position of Mallopliaga among the Insecta for a long time was a 

 much-debated question. EacJi new student quite naturally shifted them 

 from one position to another because little was known then concerning the 

 anatomy an<l development of these insects. For a long time they were i)laced 

 co(!rdinate with or under the Pedic-ulidae, for the rea.son that they were 

 ectoparasites. However, it was di.scovered that Mallophaga have biting 

 mouth parts, consequently they were placed in the Pseudo-Xeuroptera 

 along with various heterogeneous insects. Even the Pseudo-Neuroptera 

 were broken up by Brauer and the ^^allophaga now found themselves 

 keeping company with Psocids and Termites under the Corrodentia. Fin- 

 ally, in all this rearrangement of things pertaining to classification, Kellogg 



