128 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



coxorhixUkS sanguisugUvS— its habits and life 



HISTORY. 



By BERTHA S. KIMBALL, Manhattan. 



Cuiiorhiuus saiKjuisiif/us, the blood-sucking cone-nose, is well known to 

 most entomologists, and was first described from Georgia by Dr. LeConte. It 

 is now a comparatively common insect in northern and western United States, 

 and, like others of the reduviid family, is noted for its bloodthirsty habits. 

 It has several common names besides that of cone-nose, being known as the 

 big bed-bug, Mexican bed-bug or Texas bed-bug. The name Conorhlmis, by 

 which it is commonly known, is derived from two Greek words, meaning 

 cone-nose, and the insect is defined as a bloodthirsty species which insinuates 

 Itself into houses for the purpose of sucking human blood. 



It has, of course, all the characteristics of the reduviid family, and as a 

 species is distinguished particularly by the raised lines of its thorax and 

 scutellum, and by its dull red markings. The conorhinus is an insect one inch 

 in length and of a dull black color marked with red. The antennae are short, 

 slender and four-jointed; the head narrow, thickened back ot the eyes, with 

 the ocelli, two in number, placed far apart; the thorax, which is triangular, 

 constricted slightly before the middle, the front raised more than the poster.ior 

 portion, with two diverging lines raised and extending backward, the sides 

 and posterior portion margined with red; the scutellum small, with two raised 

 lines meeting at the apex to form a V; the wings marked with two triangular 

 red spots, one reaching from the base of the wing half the length of the scutel- 

 lum, the other smaller and at the center of the wing; the abdomen with the 

 sides strongly recurved and marked with six red spots; the legs slender, the 

 posterior pair a little longer than the other two; the tarsi three-jointed. 



The cone-nose differs greatly from the common bed-bug, Acanthia lectu- 

 laria, which also infests sleeping apartments, and is only too well known to 

 those who travel. The common bed-bug is much smaller, about three-six- 

 teenths of an inch in length, flat and of a reddish-brown color. Its odor when 

 touched or crushed is more than equaled by that of the cone-nose, which is^o 

 intense as to penetrate all parts of a room in which it happens to be molested, 

 often leading to its discovery. 



It is closely related to the masked bed-bug hunter, Opsicaetus personatus, 

 which is said to enter rooms for the purpose of preying upon the common bed- 

 bug. This species, however, is not found in the United States. 



Those Avho do not notice closely, often confuse the cone-nose with our com- 

 mon boxelder bug, although, except perhaps in color, they are not in the least 

 similar. 



The bite or sting of the cone-nose is very painful and often even dangerous, 

 the degree depending both upon the size of the insect and the sensitiveness 

 of the person. It is accompanied by an almost intolerable itching and burn- 

 ing, and often followed by severe headache, nausea, and a feeling of depres- 

 sion often lasting for several days. The_^ swelling from the bite is about as 

 great as that ordinarily caused by a bee sting, but remains longer, and if 

 rubbed, even after the swelling has disappeared, it will swell again. Cam- 

 phor, ammonia, and the ordinary remedies for bites and stings afford some 



