30 INSECT PARASITES. 



at other times, lleproduction is fairly rapid under 

 favourable conditions. 



The eggs laid by the female have, I believe, only 

 once been described ; they are beautifully sculptured 

 objects, oval in form, and, most that I have examined, 

 truncated at the top. These 'nits' in G. Eynsfordii 

 are covered with small hexagonal sculpturings (fig. 9) . 

 The ova are laid amongst the feathers of the birds, 

 especially amongst the l down ' feathers ; they are 

 attached to the feathers by numerous fine threads 

 around their base, as seen in the figure. In from 

 six to ten days these hatch into small pale lice, which 



Fig. 9. 



Ovum of Goniodes. 



at once commence to irritate the birds. There is 

 little difference between the young and adult lice ; 

 they gradually become darker in colour. Some kept 

 by the author moulted as many as twelve times, but 

 this surely must be exceptional. There is no pupal 

 stage in these insects ; they undergo what we call an 

 incomplete metamorphosis, remaining active all their 

 life, no passive stage or pupa intervening as we saw 



