SPIDER BITES AND ''KISSING BUGSr 37 



termed a household insect. The collections of the United States 

 National Museum and of Messrs. Heidemann and Chittenden, of 

 Washington, D. C, indicate the following localities for this spe- 

 cies: Locust Hill, Ya.; Washington, D. C; Baltimore, Md. ; Ith- 

 aca, ]Sr. Y. ; Cleveland, Ohio; Keokuk, Iowa. 



The bite of this species is said to be very painful, more so than 

 that of a bee, and to be followed by numbness (Lintner). One of 

 the cases brought to the writ- 

 er's attention this summer 

 was that of a Swedish serv- 

 ant girl, in which the insect 

 was caught, where the sting 

 was upon the neck, and 

 was followed by considerable 

 swelling, Le Conte, in de- / 



scribing it under the SVno- Coriscis subcoleoptratis : «, wingless form; 

 1 rt 1 • ^ b, wincred form ; c, proboscis. All t\vi(je 



nymical name Beduvius pun- natural size. (Original.) 



gens, gives Georgia as the lo- 

 cality, and makes the following statement : '' This species is re- 

 markable for the intense pain caused by its bite. I do not know 

 whether it ever willingly plunges its rostrum into any person, but 

 when caught or unskillfully handled it always stings. In this case 

 the pain is almost equal to that of the bite of a snake, and the 

 swelling and irritation which result from it will sometimes last for 

 a week. In very weak and irritable constitutions it may even 

 prove fatal." * 



The second Eastern species is Melanotestis picipes. This and 

 the closely allied and possibly identical M. ahdominalis are not 

 rare in the United States, and have been found all along the At- 

 lantic States, in the West and South, and also in Mexico. They 

 live underneath stones and logs, and run swiftly. Both sexes of 

 M. picipes in the adult are fully winged, but the female of M. ah- 

 dominalis is usually found in the short-winged condition. Prof. P. 

 R. Uhler writes (in litt.): "Melanotestis ahdominalis is not rare in 

 this section (Baltimore), but the winged female is a great rarity. 

 At the present time I have not a specimen of the winged female in 

 my collection. I have seen specimens from the South, in l^orth 

 Carolina and Florida, but I do not remember one from ^Maryland. 

 I am satisfied that M. picipes is distinct from M. ahdominalis. I 

 have not known the two species to unite sexually, but I have seen 

 them both united to their proper consorts. Both species are some- 

 times found under the same flat stone or log, and they both hiber- 



*■ Proceedings of the Academy of Nqtiual Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vii, p. 404, 

 18.54-'55. 



