80 



ANIMAL PARASITES. 



unacquainted with ; but, according to the figure given by 

 Martiny, it is of a black colour. I have omitted it until we have 

 more exact investigations of it. Lice are rare, according to 

 Martius, amongst the Brazilian Indians, and, according to Justin 

 Goudot, amongst the Indians of Madalena, in Columbia; but, 

 according to the reports of travellers, lice do occur amongst the 

 Asiatic and American Indians, as well as amongst the New 

 Hollanders. We shall probably find these animals often in 

 great quantities amongst those people who wear long hair and do 

 not anoint it with scented or stinking oils. In the nits of the 

 hairs of New Zealanders of the present day, as also in those of 

 the Peruvian mummies, I have found the dried brood of lice, 

 which, after treatment with a solution of caustic potash, showed 

 the six stigmata on each side of the abdomen quite distinctly. I am 

 indebted for the materials for this investigation to Herr Stieglitz, 

 who is at present traversing Germany with his cabinet of Peruvian 

 mummies, which are pronounced to be genuine by connois- 

 seurs. The'New Zealand head which, in order to interest the less 

 educated public, is exhibited as that of the murderer of Cook, is 

 rich in nits, and so is the head of a Peruvian. For the purpose 

 of comparison I give the following measurements of the claws of 

 the different nits. 



Claws of the nits of 

 European lice. 



Length 0-114 mill. = 0-050'" P. 



Breadth at base 0-025 =0-011 

 Length of nit 1 

 to operculum j 



0-860 



= 0-390 



Claws of those Claws of those 



of New Zealand. from Peru. 



0-172 mill. = 0-075'" P. 0-148 mill. = 0-065"' P. 



0-033 

 1-012 



0-014 ,J 0-025 =0-011 



= 0-450 ,,1-150 



= 0-510 



From this it appears that, with regard to the size of the eggs 

 and claws, considerable differences certainly exist, which, perhaps, 

 may justify the admission of varieties. 



Phthiriasis. Aristotle narrates that the poet Alcmanes and 

 the Syrian Pherecydes died of phthiriasis; and later authors 

 report the same of Herod, Sylla, even Plato, Philip II, and 

 others. This phthiriasis, as we have seen, relates to an excessive 

 multiplication of mites, Dermanyssi, Nirmida, and common or 

 body-lice. For the present I join with those who suppose that a 

 peculiar species. Pediculus tabescentium, does not exist. 



