80 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



Kotzebue, then colonel in the general staff of the Russo- 

 Caucasian Army in Tiflis, assured me, when I was there 

 (1825), that he has seen several persons, when traveling in 

 Persia, victims of the venomous bite of the Persian Bug. 



This insect, though it is neither a native of North Amer- 

 ica, nor does it belong to the Hemipterous Order, is too no- 

 torious to pass over in silence. 



The Persian Bug (Agras Persicus) is similar to a Bed- 

 bug in color and form, but a little larger, and provided with 

 jaws. It has long been known as the venomous bug of 

 Miana in Persia, which city lies south from Tauris. That 

 same Mr. Kotzebue, the son of the celebrated unfortunate 

 German poet, August Kotzebue, Russian Counselor of 

 State, who was assassinated 1818, in Manheim, by the stu- 

 dent Sand, went as attache to the Russian Embassy of Gen- 

 eral Yermoloff to Teheran, and published afterward in Ger- 

 many his " Travels through Persia," in which he says : 

 *' The city of Miana, with the surrounding country, is re- 

 nowned on account of its venomous bugs. They live in the 

 walls of old buildings, and the older the masonry the more 

 abundant and venomous they are. Several villages are en- 

 tirely deserted, because their inhabitants have been driven 

 out by those venomous bugs." 



Those bitten by them become crazy, mad, and die with 

 terrible convulsions. 



With regard to the general protection of animals in some 

 parts of Hindostan, we find a very curious article in 

 " Forbes's Oriental Memoirs," who says : " The Banian 

 hospital at Surat is a most remarkable institution. At my 

 visit the hospital contained horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, 

 monkeys, poultry, pigeons, and a variety of birds. The most 

 extraordinary ward was that appropriated to rats and mice, 

 hugs, and other noxious vermin. The overseers of the hos- 

 pital frequently hire beggars from the streets, for a stipu- 

 lated sum, to pass a night among the Jiec(^, lice, and hugs, on 



