250 



OKTHOPTEEA. 



Lice (Anoplura). 



The Lice are generally called Pediculidm. These noxious 

 creatures are now considered degenerate Hemiptera. They all 



possess suctorial mouths and 

 are apterous. The Pediculidse 

 are parasitic on human beings 

 and mammals, upon whom 

 they may breed with great 

 rapidity (by parthenogenesis), 

 under favourable circum- 

 stances. The young louse is 

 nearly perfect when first bom 

 — in fact these insects retain 

 more or less their larval form 

 throughout life. The three 

 well-known species on human 

 beings are the Head Louse 

 {Phthirius capitis), the Clothes 

 Louse (P. vestimenti), and the 

 Body Louse (P. inguinalis). 

 The species found on our 

 domestic animals all belong 

 to the genus Hcematopinvs. 

 They are never found on the sheep or cat. The mouth is 

 formed into a kind of sucking proboscis, which is plunged into 

 the skin of the host. 



^^ 



Fig. 127.— Loose of the Ox (H(bwM<>- 

 pimis eiirystem^ts), female. (Fleming.) Great- 

 ly enlarged. 



ORTHOPTEEA. 



The Orthoptera are Earwigs, Cockroaches, Grasshoppers, 

 Crickets, Locusts, Praying Mantis Flies, and "Walking-stick 

 Insects. They are characterised by having the anterior . wings 

 leathery in texture and much narrower than the posterior ones, 

 which are fan-shaped and large. Thp mouth of the Orthoptera 



