CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



THERE are two groups of insects to which the 

 general name " lice " is applied. These some- 

 what resemble each other in form and in the habit 

 of living among the hair or feathers of their hosts. 

 They are mostly small, pale insects, coloured in 

 various shades of white to brown, and are broad 

 and flat. The two groups are called the Mallo- 

 phaga, or biting lice, and the Anoplura, or suck- 

 ing lice. The Mallophaga have mouths with 

 which they are able to chew and eat the scales of 

 the skin and fragments of hair or feathers of the 

 animals they frequent. The majority of these 

 insects infest birds, and none of them are found 

 on man. They are all too familiar to those who 

 handle domestic birds, especially pigeons, and 

 though one may occasionally get on to a person 

 while he removes the feathers from a dead bird, 

 and may even bite at his skin, they never remain 

 on him. They cannot suck blood, but in heavy 

 infestation there may be raw surfaces caused on 

 the skin by their continuous nibbling. The 



B 



