ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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PHILADELPHIA, PA., MAY, 1900. 



Now that warm weather is approaching and insects awaken- 

 ing from a Winter's sleep, the newspaper paragrapher groweth 

 restive, and we are beginning to see signs of the revival of last 

 Summer's "hum-bug" stories. 



Doubtless when Noah corraled the animals in the ark he 

 picked up some insects with tongs just as crabs are handled 

 at the sea shore. Since that time it has been known that a 

 few insects bite and that a few sting, but a person who did 

 not know anything about entomological literature would think 

 that all such knowledge was acquired last Summer. This ap- 

 plies particularly to certain Heteroptera, which have been 

 called "kissing bugs." Of course there are no such things as 

 "kissing bugs," the whole of this nonsence having originated 

 with a Washington, D. C., newspaper. Insects attack the 

 most convenient point of the human body, and each individual 

 bitten or stung could logically call the insect hurting his feel- 

 ings, from the part of his anatomy attacked. The small boy 

 who inadvertently sits on a yellow jacket's nest would have 

 equal rights with the mythical personage bitten on the lip by 

 a bug. We also find that even entomologists use the terms 

 bite and sting interchangeably, whereas insects bite with one 

 end and sting with the other. 



Now let us inquire what a kiss is. Webster says "to salute 



