SPIDER BITES AND ''KISSING BUGSr 41 



guisugus, are given the general geographical distribution of 

 *' Southern States." C. dimidiaius and C. maculipennis are Mex- 

 ican forms, while C. gerstaeckeri occurs in the Western States. The 

 more recently described species, C. protractiLS Uhl., has been 

 taken at Los Angeles, Cal.; Dragoon, Ariz.; and Salt Lake City, 

 Utah. All of these insects are blood-suckers, and do not hesitate 

 to attack animals. Le Conte, in his original description of C. san- 

 guisugus* adds a most significant paragraph or two which, as it 

 has not been quoted of late, will be especially appropriate here: 

 " This insect, equally with the former " (see above), " inflicts a most 

 painful wound. It is remarkable also for sucking the blood of 

 mammals, particularly of children. I have known its bite fol- 

 lowed by very serious consequences, the patient not recovering 

 from its effects for nearly a year. The many relations which we 

 have of spider bites frequently proving fatal have no doubt arisen 

 from the stings of these insects or others of the same genera. 

 When the disease called spider bite is not an anthrax or carbuncle 

 it is undoubtedly occasioned by the bite of an insect — by no means 

 however, of a spider. Among the many species of Araneidce which 

 we have in the United States I have never seen one capable of 

 inflicting the slightest wound. Ignorant persons may easily mis- 

 take a Cimex for a spider. I have known a physician who sent 

 to me the fragments of a large ant, which he supposed was a spider, 

 that came out of his grandchild's head." The fact that Le Conte 

 was himself a physician, having graduated from the College of 

 Physicians and Surgeons in 1846, thus having been nine years in 

 practice at the time, renders this statement all the more significant. 

 The life history and habits of C. sanguisugus have been so well 

 written up by my assistant, Mr. Marlatt, in Bulletin Xo. 4, I^^ew 

 Series, of the Division of Entomology, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, that it is not necessary to enter upon them here. 

 The point made by Marlatt — that the constant and uniform char- 

 acter of the symptoms in nearly all cases of bites by this insect 

 indicate that there is a specific poison connected with the bite — de- 

 serves consideration, but there can be no doubt that the very seri- 

 ous results which sometimes follow the bite are due to the intro- 

 duction of extraneous poison germs. The late Mr. J. B. Lembert, 

 of Yosemite, Cal., noticed particularly that the species of Conorhi- 

 nus occurring upon the Pacific coast is attracted by carrion. Pro- 

 fessor Tourney, of Tucson, Arizona, shows how a woman broke out 

 all over the body and limbs with red blotches and welts from a 

 single sting on the shoulders. Specimens of C. sanguisugus re- 



* Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vii, p. 404j 

 1854-'55. 



VOL. LVI. — 4 



