tgt OBSERVATIONS ON THE G AN NET. 



and no instance has occurred in which it has net 

 appeared more or less in every specimen dissect- 

 ed. 



To class this insect with any of the Linnean 

 genera, is impossible ; nor am I acquainted with 

 any genus, in the arrangement of any of the more 

 modern systematic writers, in which it could with 

 propriety be placed. It appears to be more near- 

 ly allied to Acarus than to any other ; but the 

 want of eyes, proboscis, or sucker, and palpi, 

 will not admit of connection ; the situation, too, of 

 the legs, seem to be characteristic. Under these 

 circumstances, I propose giving it a distinct place 

 in the system of nature, under the title of Cel- 

 lularia Bassani, with the following generic 

 characters : Head, thorax, and abdomen united : 

 No eyes, antennae, palpi, nor proboscis : Legs 

 eight, the four posterior remote from the four 

 anterior: Feet unarmed, but furnished with 

 bristles. 



Before I conclude this paper, it may be proper 

 to remark, that the gannet, like all other birds, 

 is not destitute of some species of pedicuhis that 

 inhabit the feathers. But as the insects of this 

 very numerous genus are so extremely similar., 

 that they have been considered distinct, only from 

 the circumstance of having been found on dif- 

 ferent animals, it appears useless to perplex 

 science with a catalogue of names without spe- 

 cific distinction. That which inhabits the gan- 

 net, appears to be the same as those found on 



