110 
Biology of Pediculus humanns 
Patton and Cragg (1913. p. 552) raised lice by feeding them but once 
a day and keeping them at room temperature, 30° C., in India. 
Kinloch (vi. 1915, p. 1038) fed lice upon the finger on which they were 
confined by a finger stall; he kept the lice at 24-37° C. in an incubator 
between feeds; this method, however, is unsuited for feeding lice in 
numbers. Legroux (vii. 1915, p. 470) attempted to raise lice by applying 
them once a day to the skin in a cupping glass, maintaining them between 
feeds on muslin in dishes at 16-18° C.; this temperature is too low for 
development. Heymann (18. vm. 1915, figs. 2-3) devised cylindrical 
or flat metallic boxes of wire gauze for confining lice. The boxes were 
placed in a flat silk container sewn so as to form 50 pockets which 
were closed by safety pins; the silk container was worn under the 
clothing. He observed the development of lice in the boxes at intervals 
of 24 hours or more, up to four weeks; he does not state how he fed 
the lice. 
Sikora (vm. 1915, p. 523) confined lice in cotton-plugged tubes or 
screened boxes which were carried in the pocket by day, at ca. 24° C., 
and near the person at night, at ca. 35° C. The lice were usually fed 
twice a day upon the hand and forearm. Threads or hair were placed 
inside the containers for the lice to cling to and oviposit upon. Sikora 
found that larger lice would bite through silk gauze having 12 holes 
per centimetre, the gauze serving to enclose the insects in containers 
which were periodically applied to the arm, thus enabling the lice to 
feed. Larval lice could not feed through the gauze, because they failed 
to reach the skin. Larvae were confined in corn rings attached to the 
skin and covered over, or the feeding area was circumscribed by smearing 
a line of fat about it. Very few nits were laid on the gauze. Rocha- 
Lima (ix. 1916, pp. 1381-1383) illustrates an apparatus, devised by 
Sikora, for feeding lice upon the arm. It consists of an oblong wooden 
box about 8 cm. long, with perforated lid and bottom covered by 
coarse gauze, and held on the wrist by two straps. The apparatus 
appears clumsy, and the box, if not accurately made, might well permit 
lice to escape; besides it is entirely unsuited for work with small larvae. 
The illustration, however, gave me a useful hint which led to my devising 
the simpler and better wristlet method already described. 
Bacot (n. 1917, pp. 229-230, Figs. 1 and 2) kept lice in glass-bottomed 
entomological boxes lined with cloth, the top covered with chiffon, 
through which the lice fed. It was an adaptation of the method he 
had previously devised for feeding fleas. The boxes were arranged 
in lots of twelve, in a pasteboard frame, whereby they were held against 
