Lice

The Bug of the Day is lice. Lice are minute, wingless insects that live and breed on their hosts. All are parasites; some carry disease. Biting lice (bird lice), a distinct group, feed on hair, feathers, and fragments of skin. The sucking lice take the hosts' blood directly, by means of sucking mouth-parts. The hog lice (¼ in.) are the largest of this group. The head louse infects humans and is known to carry typhus, trench fever, and relapsing fever. Six to 12 generations of lice may mature annually. Young, similar to adults, develop rapidly. Phew.