374 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



and in any dark and narrow crevices ; and it starts forth at 

 night time to look for its victims, and displays a surprising 

 amount of instinct and perseverance. Some people remove their 

 beds away from the walls with the notion that they are beyond 

 the reach of such very intimate visitors, but the bugs crawl up 

 on to the ceiling, and when they come immediately over the 

 sleepers they let themselves fall, and proceed to enjoy them- 

 selves forthwith. They lay their eggs in hidden places, and 

 when they are hatched the young ones grow with greater or 

 less rapidity, according to the temperature of the room and the 

 corpulency of its inhabitants. They change their skins very often, 

 and the husks we see are not dead insects, but those of vigorous 

 ones which arc only a little way off. They undergo a very 

 incomplete metamorphosis, and the adult insects never have any 

 wings, and they thus resemble the larvae and nymphs of the other 

 Hemiptcra. We may thank Providence that they have no wings. 

 They have, as everybody knows, a peculiar smell. The female bug 

 lays her eggs at the beginning of summer, and the larvae, when 

 hatched, are small, white, and semi-transparent, of a slightly 

 different form from the parent, and they take eleven weeks to 

 attain their full size. 



The ReduviincB have rather slender bodies, and are essentially 

 carnivorous in their habits. They run swiftly over the ground, and 

 chase other insects, which they kill and suck. Curiously enough, 

 they are especially fond of the bed bug, but, unfortunately, they 

 are rather scarce, so that it does not seem possible to keep them 

 in houses and to train them up to indulge in this very important 

 peculiarity. They have a sharp suctorial organ, which is strong 

 enough to pierce the skins of the animals upon which they live, 

 and its puncture produces much pain. The species are scattered 

 all over the globe, but are much more numerous in warm than 

 in cold countries, only a few being found in Europe. The largest 

 and finest are natives of India and America. The common 

 species, however, is the European Rediivms personatus. It is 

 generally found inside houses living amongst the dust and fluff. 

 It is then in the condition of a larva or nymph, and it hides 

 itself by covering its body with those evidences of uncleanly 

 habits. When it becomes an adult, it obtains its wings and 



