HETEROPTERA, — CIMICIDE. 475 
Fig. 121. 

ought to be retained, although the Germans, following Fabricius, 
give it under the generic name of Acanthia. It has been united by 
Latreille, Burmeister, and others, with the Tingide, but the longer 
rostrum (fig. 120. 2.) and the slenderness of the apical joints of the 
antenne (fig. 120. 3.) at once separate it from them; the latter cha- 
racter pointing out its relation with Reduvius, with which Dufour 
also states that it agrees in internal structure. The antenne are 
4-jointed; the labium 3-jointed, the basal joint being the longest , 
the thorax is sublunate, not transversely divided, as in the Reduviide ; 
the abdomen very much depressed, and more or less orbicular; the 
wings are reduced to a pair of short transverse scale-like pieces; the 
legs are moderately long and slender; the tarsi 3-jointed.* The 
habits of the typical species Cimex lectularius Zinz., are too well known 
to require description. Its introduction into this country has been 
the subject of discussion. It was well known to Pliny (Hist. N. 29. 
17.), Dioscorides, Aristophanes, and Aristotle (Hist. An. Ed. Bek., 
p- 148. 12.) ; but it has been generally asserted to have been brought 
from America to England +, whence it passed to the continent of Eu- 
rope, and that it was not known here until 1670. Mouffett, however 
(Ins. Theatr. p. 270.) mentions its having been seen in 1503. It has, 
however, been noticed as a singular fact, and as showing that this dis- 
* Spinola has described some interesting peculiarities in the structure of this genus 
hitherto unnoticed. (Essai, p. 170.) 
+ Southall states that its first appearance took place after the great fire in 1666 . 
‘‘Jearned men,” says he, “ united in thinking they were imported with the new 
deal timber, as the bugs were naturally fond of turpentine woods.” It is certain 
that they swarm in the American timber employed in the construction of new 
houses; and it is said that they feed upon the sap of that wood. 
