SPIDER BITES AND '' KISSING BUGSr 



39 



Texas, is interesting as having occurred in bed. The patient was 

 bitten on the hand, with very painful results and bad swelling. 



The third of the Eastern species, Coriscus suhcoleoptratus, is 

 said by Uhler to have a general distribution in the Northern States, 

 and is like the species immediately preceding a native insect. 

 There is no record of any bite by this species, and it is introduced 

 here for the reason that it attracted the writer's attention crawl- 

 ing upon the walls of an earth closet in Greene County, ISTew York, 

 where on one occasion it bit him between the fingers. The pain 

 was sharp, like the prick of a pin, but only a faint swelling fol- 

 lowed, and no further inconvenience. The insect is mentioned, 



Rasatus biouttatus. Twice natu- 

 ral size. (Original.) 



Eeduvius (Opsicostesi per- 

 sonatus. Twice natural 

 size. (Original.) 



however, for the reason that, occurring in such situations, it is one 

 of the forms which are liable to carry pathogenic bacteria. 



There remain for consideration the Southern and Western 

 forms — Basatus thoracicus and R. higuttatus, and Conorliinus san- 

 guisugus. 



The two-spotted corsair, as Rasatus higuttatus is popularly 

 termed, is said by Riley to be found frequently in houses in the 

 Southern States, and to prey npon bedbugs. Lintner, referring 

 to the fact that it preys upon bedbugs, says : " It evidently delights 

 in human blood, but prefers taking it at second hand." Dr. A. 

 Davidson, formerly of Los Angeles, Cal., in an important paper 

 entitled So-called Spider Bites and their Treatment, published in 

 the Therapeutic Gazette of February 15, 1897, arrives at the con- 

 clusion that almost all of the so-called spider bites met with in 

 southern California are produced by no spider at all, but by Rasatus 

 higuttatus. The symptoms which he describes are as follows: 

 " Next day the injured part shows a local cellulitis, with a central 



