The Anoplura may probably be regarded as a degraded offshoot of the Hemiptera.
To begin with, 1 Though not relating exactly to our present theme, it would be improper to dismiss Nitzsch's name without reference to his extraordinary labours in investigating the insect and other external parasites of birds, a subject which as regards British species was subsequently elaborated by Denny in his Monographia Anoplurorum Britanniae (1842) and in his list of the specimens of British Anoplura in the collection of the British Museum.
The true lice (or Anoplura) are found on the bodies of many Mammalia, and occasion by their presence intolerable irritation.
The arrangement of the jaws is remarkably constant throughout the order, if we exclude from it the lice (Anoplura).
The Anoplura or lice should not be included among the Hemiptera, but it has been thought convenient to refer briefly to them at the close of this article.