THE BED-EUG. 567 



golden-yellow scales, and then with rather long, erect black 

 hairs which project between the scales. The elytra of the male 

 are blackish- brown. In the male the upper part of the front 

 part of the thorax or pronotum is bent down towards the 

 head, whereas in the female it is straight. The thighs are 

 long and black, and the tibise reddish-yellow, often tipped with 

 black, as shown in the illustration. 



At Fig. a is given a profile view of the head, so as to show 

 the very long second joint of the hair-clad antenna), and the 

 way in which the long, four-jointed beak is bent under the 

 breast. The rather peculiar tarsus is shown at 6, and the 

 labrum at c. The word Orthocephalus is formed from two 

 Grreek words, signifying* straight-headed, and the Latin specific 

 name hirtus, or hairy, is given to the insect in allusion to the 

 long black hair with which its body is covered. The shape of 

 the elytron, or wing-cover, of the male is shown at Fig. d, and 

 that of the true or flying wing at Fig. e of the same illustration. 



The family of the Acanthiidse is represented by the common 

 Bed-Bug {Acanthia lectularia or Cirnex lectularius), which 

 is represented on Woodcut LXVII. Fig. 1. In this genus the 

 abdomen is nearly circular, and both sexes are almost without 

 wings, their position being only indicated by a pair of little 

 scale-like jDrojections. Some entomologists assert that specimens 

 have been found possessing perfect wings, but there is no 

 satisfactory proof of any such development among the numbers 

 that are annually killed. 



When and how this singularly unpleasant insect was intro- 

 dnced into this country is not known ; but there is no doubt 

 that it is not indigenous, and that it was unknown some three 

 hundred years ago. It is true that there are several allusions 

 to the Bug in Shakespeare, as well as in older writers ; but in 

 every case the word does not allude to the noxious insect, but 

 is taken in its original sense, namely, something that can 

 terrify or annoy, and originally signifies some terrible spectre 

 that walks by night. Thus in Ps. xci. 5, the word which is 

 now rendered as ' terror ' by night, was in the older editions of 

 the Bible translated as Bugge, the allusion being evidently to 

 spectral apparitions. It is still used in this sense in the word 

 Bug-bear. We can easily see how an insect, newly introduced 



