168 PINE. TRUNK— PINE BLIGHT. 



evil. When parted under a magnifier, the white matter appears 

 like very fine Saxony wool, the crinkled fibres drawing apart as 

 do those of wool. And under them, in each tuft, is discovered 

 by means of the lens, a cluster of the insects alluded to, huddled 

 closely together and fixed to the bark. They are so very minute, 

 and so like the bark in their color, that it was not till after re- 

 peated examinations, that I was able to detect them. The insect 

 is a louse so exceedingly small as to be wholly imperceptible to 

 the naked eye, and is discovered with difficulty even when the 

 eye is aided by a magnifying glass. Of these lice the larger indi- 

 viduals are little over the hundredth part of an inch in length, 

 and smaller ones are associated with them not half this size. 

 They are broad, oval, and nearly hemispherical in form, soft, of a 

 black or blackish brown color, with their backs coated over more 

 or less with a whitish meal-like powder. Three pairs of legs are 

 perceptible, which are equidistant from each other. They are 

 short, filiform and black. Little more than what has now been 

 stated can be discerned with a common magnifying glass. When 

 placed upon white paper, the dark color of the insect renders it 

 very perceptible, and a very slight motion may be seen, but for 

 which, one would deem it a speck of shapeless inorganic matter. 

 Its powers of locomotion are so small that it does not attempt to 

 crawl away from the point where it is placed, a slight gliding 

 motion, to the distance of little more than a hair's breadth, being 

 all that it commonly accomplishes. 



When highly magnified, the white meal-like substance upon the back of this 

 insect is found to be a mass of short curling uneven filaments, coating the back 

 and giving it a rough, shaggy appearance. The logs are short and robust, the 

 shanks being nearly equal to the thighs in diameter, and the feet but little nar- 

 rower at base than the shanks; they are conical, and seem to be of one single 

 piece, ending at tip in two minute short bristle-like setae. The shanks are but 

 little longer than broad, and slightly enlarged towards their tips. The thighs 

 are slightly longer than the shanks and thickest in their middle. There are no 

 thread-like or other projections at the hind end. The head appears to be sepa- 

 rated from the body by a very faint transverse line. In the meal-like powder 

 with which it is coated, no antennse or organs to the mouth can be discerned; 

 but on carefully rubbing off this powder, two little projecting conical points, 

 one upon each side of the head, standing outwards like little ears, appear to 

 represent the antennae. Often the white powder upon the back appears like 

 transverse bands, separated from each other by the slightly constricted black 

 sutures of the body. The flat underside of the body is of a pale color, and in 

 some individuals the upper side is also tinged with pallid. 



