164 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Manner of feeding Quick increase. 



Superficial observers are apt to take this for the 

 pulsation of the heart ; but if the animal be ob- 

 served when sucking, it will then be seen that 

 the food takes a direct passage from the trunk to 

 the stomach, where the remainder of the old ali- 

 ment may be observed mixing with the new, and 

 agitated up and down on every side. If this 

 creature be kept from food two or three days, 

 and then placed upon the back of the hand, or 

 any soft parts of the body, it will immediately 

 seek food; and which it will the more readily 

 find if the place be rubbed until it grows red. 

 The animal then turns its head, which lies be- 

 tween the two fore-legs, to the skin, and dili- 

 gently searches for some pore; when found it 

 fixes the trunk therein, and soon with the micro- 

 scope, the blood may be discovered ascending 

 through the head in a very rapid stream. The 

 louse will, at that time., feed in any posture, even 

 with its head downward, and its tail elevated. 

 If, during this operation, the skin be drawn tight, 

 the trunk becomes bound fast, and the animal is 

 incapable of disengaging itself; but it more fre- 

 quently suffers from its gluttony, since it gorges 

 to such a degree that it is crushed to pieces with 

 the slightest impression. 



Scarcely any creature multiplies so quickly as 

 this unwelcome intruder. It has been humour- 

 ously said that a louse becomes a grandfather in 

 the space of twenty-four hours. This fact can- 

 not be ascertained; but nothing is more true 



