78 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



that hair-powder, pomatum, and hair-oil were chiefly in- 

 vented, and generally used, because every kind of grease 

 destroys these insects, by stopping up their air-holes or 

 breathing organs, and they immediately fall into convul- 

 sions and die an experiment that may be repeated at 

 pleasure on caterpillars. 



These disgusting creatures make their abode principally 

 upon the heads of human beings, as may be seen, for in- 

 stance, in the haunts of the filthy poor every where, or the 

 poor, oppressed Jews and peasants of Poland, or the down- 

 trodden and degraded countrymen of Italy, and the innu- 

 merable host of beggars with which all her churches 

 swarm. 



According to the observations made in the year 1687 by 

 the celebrated Dutch philosopher, Leuwenhoeck, the female 

 Louse, in the course of six days, lays fifty white eggs, which 

 are called Nits, and from which, after six days more, pro- 

 ceed the young ones, which are perfected in eighteen days. 

 In this manner such a female may have the satisfaction of 

 being grandmother to a progeny of five thousand individuals 

 around her in the short space of eight weeks. This species 

 is called the HEAD-LOUSE (Pediculus capitis). 



Another species, also a nuisance to the human family, is 

 the BODY-LOUSE (Pediculus vestimentomm), whose favorite 

 dwelling is in the folds of the shirt-collar, and which prob- 

 ably produces that generally incurable disease called phthi- 

 riasis. It is humbling to human pride and the high con- 

 ceit of mortal man to think that the poor and the rich, the 

 ignorant and the wise, princes, kings, and emperors, have 

 been and are alike subject to this misfortune. Examples 

 are not wanting : the Dictator Sylla, the two Herods of 

 Judea, the Roman Emperor Maximian, and the mighty 

 Philip II., King of Spain, and many others, have been car- 

 ried off by this disgusting, incurable malady, in which the 

 whole human body becomes covered with sores, and is lit- 



