ORDER II. BUGS. 79 



erally eaten up alive by these insects. See ^^ Maladies de la 

 Peau, imr Alibert, 180C." 



The Bed-bug (Cimex lectularius). 



Bed-bugs are, unfortunately, every where well known. 

 They are found throughout the Avorld, from the seventieth 

 degree north latitude to the seventieth degree of south lati- 

 tude, in both hemispheres, and inhabit principally the 

 houses of populous cities. The walls of hen-houses are 

 also sometimes entirely covered with them, and, what is 

 very singular, the fowls themselves are never attacked by 

 them ; but as they people rapidly in warm fowl-manure, it 

 is conjectured that they feed on them. Hen-houses near a 

 dwelling-house are on this account dangerous. 



That Bed-bugs suck the blood of man is very well 

 known, but it is not so certain that blood is their only 

 nourishment. I found them in abundance in the pine 

 woods of Finland, near Wiborg, in Europe, as well as in 

 the pine woods of North America, and in newly-construct- 

 ed frame houses. It is probable, therefore, that they feed 

 on the sap of pine wood. 



In England it is believed that this vermin is a native of 

 North America, and was accidentally brought over to Eu- 

 rope in the pine timber. But this can hardly be the case, 

 as Aristotle, who lived three hundred years before Christ, 

 mentions this insect in his ^' Historia Animalium,^'' and so 

 does Pliny, some centuries later, in his Natural History. 

 They are undoubtedly natives of a warm country, for they 

 like a high temperature, and are benumbed in winter, al- 

 though experiments have been made in which an exposure 

 to a temperature of five degrees below of Fahrenheit did 

 them no harm. Like reptiles, they can also live many 

 years without food, as the German naturalist Goeze has 

 proved, who kept them alive six years without any nour- 

 ishment. 



