872 [Assembly 
evil. When parted under a magnifier, the white matter appears 
like very fine Saxony wool, the crinkled fibers drawing apart as 
do those of wool. And under them, in each tuft, is discovered 
by means of the lens, a cluster of the insects alluded to, huddled 
closely together and fixed to the bark. They are so very minute 
and so like the bark in their color, that it was not till after re¬ 
peated examinations that I w'as able to detect them. The>insect 
is a louse, so exceedingly small as to be wholly imperceptible to 
the naked eye; and is discovered with difficulty even when the 
eye is aided by a magnifying glass. Of these lice the larger indi¬ 
viduals are little over the hundredth part of an inch in length, 
and smaller ones are associated .with them not half this size. 
They are broad oval and nearly hemispherical in form, soft, of a 
black or blackish brown color, with their backs coated over more 
or less with a whitish meal-like powder. Three pairs of legs are 
perceptible, which are equidistant from each other. They are 
short, filiform and black. Little more than what has now been 
stated can be discerned with a common magnifying glass. When 
placed upon white paper, the dark color of the insect renders it 
very perceptible, and a very slight motion may be seen, but for 
which, one would deem it a speck of shapeless inorganic matter. 
Its powers of locomotion are so small that it does not attempt to 
crawl away from the point where it is placed, a slight gliding 
motion, to the distance of little more than a hair’s breadth, being 
all that it commonly accomplishes. 
When highly magnified, the white meal-liko substance upon the back of this insect 
is found to be a mass of short curling uneven filaments, coating the hack and giving it 
a rough, shaggy appearance. The legs are short and robust, the shanks being near¬ 
ly equal to the thighs in diameter, and the feet but li tie narrower at base than the 
shanks ; they are conical, and seem to be of one single piece, ending at tip in two 
minute short bristle-like seta;. The shanks are but little longer than broad and 
slightly enlarged towards their tips. The thighs are slightly longer than the shanks 
and thickest in their middle. There are no thread-like or other projections at the 
hind end. The head appears to be separated from the body by a very faint trans¬ 
verse line. In the meal-like powder with which it is coated, nh antennae or organs 
tj> the mouth can be discerned, but on carefully rubbing oil’ this powder two little 
projecting conical points, one upon each side of the head, standing outwards like 
little ears, appear to represent the antenna;. Often the white powder upon the back 
appears like transverse bands, separated from each other by the slightly constricted 
black sutures of the body. The fiat under side of the body is of a pale color, and in 
some individuals the upper side is also tinged with pallid. 
