551 
THE LOtfSfl. 
Genus IV — Pediculus. "Phe Loufe. 
1 HE characters of this unfeemly tribe are, fix fee t form- 
ed for walking ; a mouth containing an exferted fling ; 
antennas as long as the thorax ; and an abdomen depref- 
fed, and formed of different lobes or fegments f . 
It is remarkable that almofl every animal and vege- 
table is frequented by its particular loufe, although only 
about fifty different fpecies of this tribe have yet found 
their way into the fyftems of natural hiflory. Even man, 
whofe fancied prerogatives lead him to boaft of being the 
lord of the creation, has often the mortification of being 
trampled upon by the moil defpicable of all animals* 
Pediculus humantis , the human loufe. Of this infefl 
there are two varieties ; the one inhabits the head, and 
the other the body. No medical inquiries have yet found 
out why fome families of the lame tribe choofe thefe dif- 
ferent abodes. Infants and children are moil infeded 
with the former of thefe kinds, and failors, foldiers, and 
old men are mofl liable to be troubled with the latter. 
Cleanlinefs is the bed antidote againd thefe hideous in- 
truders ; and their naufeous fociety feems a very proper 
punilhment infii&ed by nature on its neglect. The pchi- 
riafis, or loufy difeafe, though very little known in latter 
times, was not unfrequent among the ancients. Herod , 
Antiochus , Caliijhenes, and Sylla, with many others, died 
of 
f Syft. Nat, p. JiS, 
