PEDICULUS VESTIMENTI. 81 



2. The Body-Louse = Pediculus vestimenti. (Tab. IX, fig. 13.) 



Synon.: Pediculus humani corporis,humanus. Kleiderlaus, Germ. 



Exactly like the preceding in its external form, but larger. 

 Head exserted, elongated oval ; second joint of the antennae 

 elongated, the antennae therefore are longer than in 1 ; thorax 

 distinctly divided into segments; legs longer, more slender, and 

 with larger claws ; on the inside of the last tarsal joint two horny 

 stumps and a bristle, as in the common louse. Abdomen with 

 seven segments, and with six stigmata on the first six segments. 

 Penis as in 1, but considerably larger, and the asperities about 

 the genital orifice more striking. Orifice of the vagina with 

 rows of spines, as in the preceding species. Length f'" -2"'. 

 Colour dirty white, blacker on the margins. The principal 

 distinction between the body-louse and the head-louse lies in the 

 size ; for even the proboscis only has the hooks at its free 

 extremity larger than in the head-louse. 



Symptoms. According to Schinzinger this animal produces 

 its mischief especially on those parts of the skin which correspond 

 with the folds and seams of the clothing, about the throat, neck, 

 and round the body where the petticoat or waist-band lie close. 

 In these seams the animals lay their eggs, and consequently 

 become most flourishing with those who cannot frequently change 

 their linen. They only occur upon naked parts of the body, and 

 day and night produce a constant biting and itching on the 

 skin, which leads to continual rubbing and scratching. The 

 external phenomena caused by them resemble those of the 

 preceding species ; the skin becomes quite red, exhibits the scabs 

 described, papulae, and even vesicular eruptions where the skin is 

 very tender. 



The treatment is the same as with the preceding, but the cure 

 is even still easier. A bath, and afterwards putting on new 

 clothes from head to foot, or.even old ones which have been dis- 

 infected in an oven as described for the itch-mites, suffices for a 

 cure. To purify the clothes, the common people bury them in 

 hay for several weeks. As a boy, I have had the opportunity of 

 observing this method in the country. The lice certainly did not 

 return when the clothes remained for fourteen days in the hay; 

 in this time even the embryos in the nits die or become abortive. 

 Moreover, it is said that a journey towards the tropics expels 

 these lice, and that they do not occur in hot countries. 



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