32 IIHYNCOTA. 



allied genus, Vella, is more prettily marked than the 

 preceding one, having orange, white, and black spots. 

 The only British species, V. currens, about 3 lines in 

 length, is very common on clear streams, associating in 

 companies ; the winged form is rare. I must not forget 

 to mention the long thread-like form of Limiiobates 

 stagnorum ; it is about 5 lines long, and common in 

 ponds covered with duckweed (Lemna), and sluggish in 

 its movements. Fig. 9 is Hydrometra lacustris. 



Of the Clmicidw or Bed-bug family there is but one 

 genus, and that, considering the unpleasant feelings 

 associated with the insect's name, is one too many. 

 These insects are flat, more or less round, legs rather 

 slender and tolerably long ; there is a mere indication 

 of wings in a pair of short scale-like appendages ; that 

 they have a sharp proboscis can be attested by many a 

 sleepless victim. The introduction of the Bed-bug 

 {Cimex lectularms) into this country has been a subject 

 of discussion. The obnoxious creature appears to have 

 been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, by the 

 names of Kopig and cimex. Bacchus, in " Aristophanes's 

 Comedy of the Frogs," before his expedition into 

 Hades, to bring Euripides back to the upper world, asks 

 Hercules to recommend, amongst other things needful 

 on his journey, the inns where there were fewest 

 bugs :— 



HavdoKtvTpias ottov Kopeis oX'iyinToi. 



[Batr. 114). 



Westwood quotes Southall as stating that the bug's 

 first introduction into London was after the Great Fire 

 in 1666: "learned men united in thinking that they 

 were imported with new deal timber, as the bugs were 



