4 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



vermin. Mr. Warburton at once appreciated 

 the fact that he must know the life-history of 

 the insect before he could successfully attack 

 the problem put before him. At an early stage 

 of his investigations he found that P. vestimenti 

 survives longer under adverse conditions than 

 P. capitis, the head-louse. 



The habitat of the body-louse is that side of 

 the underclothing which is in contact with the 

 body. The louse, which sucks the blood of its 

 host at least twice a day, is, when feeding, always 

 anchored to the inside of the underclothing of 

 its host by the claws of one or more of its six 

 legs. Free lice are rarely found on the skin in 

 western Europeans. But the underside of a 

 stripped shirt is often alive with them. 



After a great many experiments, Mr. Warburton 

 succeeded in rearing these delicate insects, but 

 only under certain circumscribed conditions ; one 

 of which was their anchorage in some sort of 

 flannel or cloth, and the second was proximity 

 to the human skin. He anchored his specimens 

 on small pieces of cloth, which he interned in 

 small test-tubes plugged with cotton-wool, which 

 did not let the lice out, but did let the air and the 

 emanations of the human body in. For fear of 



