SPIDER BITES AND -'KISSING BUGSr 33 



{Basatus thoracicus and R. biguitatus), both of which occur, how- 

 ever, most numerously in the South and West, and then spoke of 

 Melanotestis picipes, a species which had been especially called to 

 my attention by Mr. Frank M. Jones, of Wilmington, Del., who 

 submitted the report of the attending physician in a case of two 

 punctures by this insect inflicted upon the thumb and forefinger of 

 a middle-aged man in Delaware. I further reported upon occa- 

 sional somewhat severe results from the bites * of the old Eeduvius 

 personatus, now placed in the genus Opsicostes, and stated that a 

 smaller species, Coriscus suhcoleoptratus, had bitten me rather se- 

 verely under circumstances similar to some of those which have 

 given rise in the past to spider-bite stories. In the course of the 

 discussion which followed the reading of this paper, Mr. Schwarz 

 stated that twice during the present spring he had been bitten 

 rather severely by Melanotestis picipes which had entered his room, 

 probably attracted by light. He described it as the worst biter 

 among heteropterous insects with which he had had any experi- 

 ence, and said he thought it was commoner than usual in Wash- 

 ington during the present year. 



No account of this meeting was published, but within a few 

 weeks thereafter several persons suffering from swollen faces vis- 

 ited the Emergency Hospital in Washington and complained that 

 they had been bitten by some insect while asleep; that they did 

 not see the insect, and could not describe it. This happened dur- 

 ing one of the temporary periods when newspaper men are most 

 actively engaged in hunting for items. There was a dearth of 

 news. These swollen faces offered an opportunity for a good story, 

 and thus began the " kissing-bug " scare which has grown to such 

 extraordinary proportions. I have received the following letter 

 and clipping from Mr. J. F. McElhone, of the Washington Post, 

 in reply to a request for information regarding the origin of this 

 curious epidemic: 



" Washington, D. C, August I4, 1899. 



"Dr. L. 0. Howard, Cosmos Club., Washington, D. C. 



"Dear Sir: Attached please find clipping from the Washing- 

 ton Post of June 20, 1899, being the first story that ever appeared 

 in print, so far as I can learn, of the depredations of the Melano- 

 testis picipes, better known now as the kissing bug. In my rounds 

 as police reporter of the Post, I noticed, for two or three days 

 before writing this story, that the register of the Emergency Hos- 

 pital of this city contained unusually frequent notes of ' bug-bite ' 



* When the word " bite " is used in connection with these bugs, it must be remembered 

 that it is really a puncture made with the sharp beak or proboscis (see illustration). 



