]22 SELECTED NOTES FROM 



Esq., I find a manuscript name of Caballi. This I also suspect 

 to be identical, from the fact of the Asini not being enumerated, 

 and which, from its common occurrence, could not have escaped 

 Dr. Leach's observation." 



It would appear, therefore, desirable to make further com- 

 parison to determine whether there be a Hcematopimis parasitic on 

 the horse specifically different from that on the ass, although it is 

 difficult to understand how (if it be so) it could have escaped 

 Denny's observations. 



Wm. C. Tait. 



I have mounted several of the HcEtnatopiiius from the horse, 

 and have known many horses to be troubled with this parasite, 

 and have had my specimens alive. I have also had many Hcema- 

 topimis from the pig, and although these two are somewhat alike, 

 yet there is a vast difference when they are carefully compared. I 

 have also H. spimilosiis from the rat, H. ventriculosus from the 

 rabbit, H. eurysterniis from the ox, and one from the hare which 

 I have not yet named. All these have a family resemblance, but 

 when compared they are very different from each other. 



C. F. George. 



Pediculus capitis.— These lice are supposed to be a different 

 species from P. vesthne7tti, of which we also have a slide in the box 

 PI. 28, Fig. 5. The characteristics of i^. vestimenti are, the thorax 

 contracted in front, and the abdomen with segments indistinctly indi- 

 cated. I, personally, have never been able to see the distinction, 

 and if the slide to which I allude is rightly named, it certainly 

 is not very evident. In practice, however, we see Head-lice on 

 clothes, and Clothes'-lice on heads, and as the difference is but 

 slight, the difficulty of deciding which is which in any particular 

 case, may account for my inability to recognise the species. There 

 is also another Pediculus much like these — the P. tabescentium, 

 which appears to burrow under the skin in certain diseased states, 

 but this, I am happy to say, I have never seen. The P. pubis is 

 another of the abominable insects that attack man, and is, I am 

 sorry to say, somewhat common among the dirty lower classes. 

 This, I see, is named Phthirius mguinalis in the Micro. Diction- 

 ary^ 3rd. ed. There appears to be some doubt about classifying 

 these insects. I used to be taught that they were Hemipterous 

 insects, of the family Rostrata ; now I find they are classed under 

 the order Anoplura, which I think is an advantage. The hau- 



