THE PEDICULUS TORMENTOSA.

Kumara Times, Issue 1737, 25 April 1882, Page 2

THE PEDICULUS TORMENTOSA.

JTO THE ETftTOR.]

Sir—Surely the editor of your contemporary, the Argus, nidst have been asleep, absent, or dre iming —perhaps all three, or may he the linguistic capabilities of his Kumara correspondent had assumed such proportions that it surpassed his understanding ; no dictionary being h-mdy he must have taken it for granted that all was 0.K., otherwise be wou'd never have allowed his columns to be disgraced by inserting a statement to the effect that all the youn« ladies and children with *hort hair in Kumara were infested with a win<*le>-s, hemipterous, parasitical insect. If Kumara is suffering from any pest at all itsufftrs, and has suffvred for the last five from the. ravages of a creature of th e " spgankn" speci.-s. A description of this fetid mass of cornivormis animaHon and its peculiar habits may be interesting to your renders—to he forewarned is to be forearmed." Tts burrow is not far from Miafc street named after th* parson bird, diurnally and noctnrnaHv it may he seen wandering alone and* passing backwards and forwards, shunned by man and th* higher order of animals" The bin* tailed fly alone seems happy whilst basking in its presence. It has an imsatihle thirst tor alcoholic beverages and it has been known to follow the smell of a whiskey bottle for miles. In size it exceeds all yet nv-t with of of the " segankn " species. Its cohuis of a greasy brown, and it is hairWs from the bead backwards. Not unlike the mermaid its frontiol bones are of a fishy form, whilst the brain is very small. The tufts which supply the place of hair are long, and from the habit the creature has of dipping into slush tubs have become matted together

ami sit a distance look not unlike string of farthing tallow candles. Wem lb not for its grear swallowing Capabilities' naturalists would arjjue that it wad neckless. It Shhns clean looking children esp cially if they have short hair and attend the State School. It has been known to ran for miles away from a bar of soap, and no good dame need fear it leoming near the premises on washing day; especially it there artj clean white shirts on the line, and it has b. ttn known to make a circuit of a mile 1 sooner thin, approach a building containing a hearse, aii'd on bne occasion on one of these sombre vehicles being placed near its burrow it did not make" its appearance for a week j in fact the" inhabitants had began to think that it had cleared for "fields afresh and paslures new." Of late it has taken a peculiar liking to pounds, and has an eye to the public pound especially, but I am afraid that if the mothers ol: children whose hair is cut short and who believe that cleanliness is next to godliness, and that soap is a necessity) come across the creattire" I have briefly described, it would get a short shrive" in lieti of-^-Shom? Crop. April 25, 1882. " The Pediculus Tormentbsa,"—in ancient Saxon, " the lus ;" in Germain "the laiis }" in English, "the louse" pest.