421 



CHAPTER XVI. 



AMETABOLOUS INSECTS, OR INSECTS UNDERGOING 

 NO METAMORPHOSIS. 



THE. insects which undergo no metamorphosis are 

 comparatively few in number, and however interesting 

 they may be to the scientific entomologist, my readers 

 will probably forgive me for dismissing them in but 

 few words. They form, as already stated (p. 57), 

 three distinct orders, of which two include none but 

 parasitic insects. The first of these, that of the 



ANOPLURA*, 



or true Lice, includes several species which are para- 

 sitic upon man, and which, from their being usually 

 the companions of people of uncleanly habits, are 

 looked upon with anything rather than favour amongst 

 civilized nations. The Anoplura are distinguished 

 from the other Ametabola by their possession of a 

 suctorial mouth. They live solely upon various spe- 

 cies of Mammalia, almost every one of which has its 

 peculiar louse, whilst some, our own species for ex- 

 ample, harbour several kinds of such guests. They 

 crawl about amongst the hairs of their hosts, to which 

 they cling by the agency of their hook-like, grasping 

 claws, and it is to the hairs also that they attach 

 their eggs, which are of large comparative size and of 

 a pyriform shape. I need not dwell further upon these 

 disgusting creatures, except to state, that of the three 



* Gr. anoplos, unarmed ; oura, a tail. 



U 



