178 INSECTS AFFECTING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
Whether the same species occurs on our American bison is not 
known, but the unfortunate extermination of this animal renders the 
question, from a practical standpoint, of little importance. Lucas 
describes and figures the species in the Annales de la Société Entom. 
de France (1852, ser. 2, tom. X, p. 531, pl. 11, No. IL), referring it to the 
species described by Burmeister in 1838 in the ‘‘Genera Insectorum.” 
Specimens, he says, occurred in immense numbers on a Bos bubalus in 
the Museum of Natural History. 
THE HoG LOUSE. 
(Hematopinus urius Nitzsch.) 
Occasionally this species appears in formidable numbers, since we 
often hear of swine badly affected with lice, and no other species is 
known to attack this animal. 
Giebel credits this species to Moufet, citing the Theatrum Insector 
(1634, 266), while Piaget states that it is cited by Moufet on the author- 
ity of Albertus (IV, C. 205), which would carry its recognition back to 
the thirteenth century. Linnus described it under the name of Ped- 
iculus suis, which name has been most commonly followed, but Nitzsch 
revived the name of urius and this name has been followed by Giebel 
and Piaget. Along with other parasites it received frequent mention 
by both early and modern writers. Denny speaks of it as rare in Eng- 
laud, but common in Ireland. He says (Monog. Anop. Brit., p. 35): 
This species is found in great numbers on swine, but it does not appear so generally 
spread as might be expected from the dirty habits of the animals. It most frequently 
occurs on those fresh imported from the sister isle. It was many months before I 
could obtain a single example. I had applied to both farmers and pig butchers, 
neither of whom seemed to approve of the idea which I had conceived, that of their 
pigs being lousy, but referred me to those of the Emerald Isle as being sure to 
gratify my wishes (forgetting, I suspect, that the Irish pigs come to this market to 
meet English buyers). I accordingly visited a colony just arrived, where I most 
certainly met with a ready supply; but here they were confined almost entirely to 
lean animals, and wherever I found a pig fat or healthy no game were to be seen. 
Most stock breeders have probably seen instances of its abundance, 
and from the frequent mention of it in the agricultural papers it would 
seem to be quite common throughout the country, and while, perhaps, 
less generally distributed than the ox louse, to multiply sometimes so 
as to cause much more apparent damage to its host. The fact that 
they are more commonly found on poor or runty animals should not be 
taken as evidence that they have a preference for such animals, but 
rather that the animals upon which they ave multiplied rapidly have, 
in consequence, become emaciated and unhealthy. That they do not 
increase more rapidly and become a much greater nuisance may be in 
part because the majority of hogs are sold and siaughtered at a compara- 
tively early age, and with each one slaughtered must perish the para- 
sites which have been supported by it, unless, perchance, an occasional 
