THE TRUE LICE 



(Suborder Anoplura.) 



The true lice are generally referred to in the books as the 

 suborder Parasita. They are all wingless, degraded creatures, 

 possessing to a marked degree the degradational characteristics 

 which result from a parasitic form of life. They have a thin skin 

 the feet are armed with a single long claw, and the mouth-parts 

 consist of a short tube furnished with hooks, from which may 

 be protruded a delicate sucking tube. They are not numerous 

 in species and are all parasitic on warm-blooded animals. The 

 lice which are so commonly found on birds belong to a different 

 group and are structurally quite different from Ano- 

 plura. Six genera and about forty species of 

 Anoplura are known. They are found upon many 

 mammalia, even upon those which live in the water. 

 A curious genus, for example, is found upon seals. 

 The lice of domestic animals and those which are 

 found upon uncleanly individuals of the human race 

 are well known. Three species are found upon 

 human beings in different parts of the world, and 

 rig. 212. Fed- are more or less specifically attached to this host. 

 The conditions of modern civilization, however, are 

 gradually causing these insects to become rare, except in the 

 lowest quarters. Fortunately it would no longer be appropriate, 

 or even possible, in the dawn of the twentieth century, for a poet 

 of distinction to write lines comparable to those which Robert 

 Burns once composed in the Scottish church. 



The eggs of most species are attached to the hairs of the host 

 animal, and the young lice, after hatching, begin immediately to 

 attack the skin. The rate of growth is not recorded, and the 

 embryological and morphological development of the group is 

 not well known. Here is an opportunity for some enthusiastic 

 student, who can overcome the natural distaste for these dis- 



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