ASSASSIN-BUGS. Biff 
out in front of the eyes; they possess stout and tapering feelers, 
and a transverse and impressed line behind the eyes; their pro- 
thorax is more or less bell-shaped, divided into two lobes. The 
femora is stout, the legs are short, with very large tibial cush- 
ions. M. picipes H. Schf. (Fig. 28) is black, with piceous legs 
and feelers. It is found hiding beneath stones and boards, but 
is not common in our state. It can inflict a very severe bite 
upon the hands of those that handle it carelessly, and as it is 
an active and blood-thirsty insect it had better be left undis- 
turbed. 
Conorhinus sanguisugus Lec. (Big Bed-bug). 
This insect belongs to another sub-family, (Acanthaspidina), 
distinguished by a long, narrow, cylindrical head, thickest be- 
hind the eyes, with the ocelli placed at the thickened part; the 
feelers are rather shorter, the eyes prominent, transverse, and 
Fic. 29.—Conorhinus sanguisugus Lec. After Riley. 
placed well down against the throat. The triangular prothorax 
is longer than wide, bounded behind by a transverse, incomplete, 
impressed groove; the legs are moderately short. 
This formidable insect is not found in our state, and this is 
a good thing for our people, as it has the bad habit of entering 
beds, not, like the insect described next, to kill bed-bugs, but _ 
to suck human blood. Several species occur in the southern 
states, and all are dangerous. 
The Big Bed-bug measures about one inch in length. It 
is a showy species, being pitchy brown or black, marked with 
red patches on the sides of the prothorax; spots of the same color 
at the base and apex of the wing-covers, and bands at the sides 
of the abdomen. The rather bald surface is rough or wrinkled, 
