Journal 



OF THE 



NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. II. APRIL, 1886. No. 4. 



PHILOPTERUS CORVI. 



BY PROF. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH.D. 

 {Jiead March iK^th, 1886.) 



According to Dr. Packard, the great order Hemiptera, the 

 defective-winged insects, takes in the Cicada, the Noionecta, or 

 Water-Boatman, the ApJiidoi, or leaf-vermin, and many other 

 insects, inchiding certain degenerate species which are entirely 

 wingless, closing with the most degraded forms of the whole 

 order, — the parasites which infest animals and which are known 

 as lice proper. These vermin are embraced in two distinct 

 families, one bearing the name of Pediculina, the other, Mallo- 

 phaga. The former are genuine blood-suckers, being specially 

 fitted for that business, having a sharp-edged tubular snout which 

 can be thrust into the skin of the host and through which blood 

 can thus be withdrawn. They have no jaws. They infest man 

 and beast, and, strange to say, different species may infest the 

 same animal, each species confining itself to its own especial 

 part of the body. It is even claimed that the lice found on 

 different races of men are specifically different. 



The Mallophaga infest birds and mammals ; in other words, 

 the feather-clad and the hair-clad animals. Even the porpoise 

 of the sea is not permitted to be free from them. They devour 

 the feathers and hairs upon which they dwell, and hence the 

 great difference between their mouth-parts and those of the 

 blood-suckers. The Mallophaga are masticators. They possess 

 jaws by means of which they comminute their tough pabulum, 

 namely, feathers and hairs, which consist almost entirely of 

 keratose, or horn. They are numerous in species although the 

 number of genera is comparatively small, 



