608 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



similar bites on the finger or back of the hand by some of our larger 

 and more powerful Orthoptera would easily pierce the skin. Davis 

 states that Beloceplmlus bites severely ^ and Bernard records natives 

 sleeping in vineyards in France as being bitten by EpMpingera.'^ 

 Brunner lost a piece of flesh, bitten out by the powerful jaws of 

 Saga,^ and Wellman writes that Brobchytrupes, a large cricket, can 

 draw blood with its strong jaws.* Cockroaches are known to bite off 

 the eyelashes and nibble the toenails of children in South America,^ 

 and in addition they scratch the faces of men, bite the greasy fingers 

 of sleeping children " and even eat the toenails of sailors.'^ And not 

 only do roaches bite man but they annoy him in other ways. Thus, 

 Eeverend Laock, an early Swedish clergyman in Pennsylvania, had 

 a roach enter his ear, causing intense pain until drowned out with 

 water like a rat from its hole.^ There are other similar incidents 

 recorded and the name "earwig" was given the Forficulidae by reason 

 of the widespread belief that they habitually enter the ears of man. 

 Orthoptera directly injuring man's person internally is a subject 

 pertaining mostly to their causing disease and the dissemination of 

 the same. This phase of orthopterous econoni}^ is closely connected 

 with that dealing with external injuries by the entrance of the ear 

 by roaches, etc., as mentioned above, and especially by injuries to the 

 skin by secretions given off by certain species. Thus an African 

 katydid exudes a clear yellowish fluid from pores in the side of the 

 body near the junction of the thorax and abdomen which causes a 

 quite severe eruption if it comes into direct contact vfith the skin. 

 The natives appreciate and fear this property and its potency was 

 verified experimentally by Dr. H. Stannus,^ who thinks extensive 

 ulceration of various parts of the body may sometimes result from 

 this cause when proper medical advice is lacking. Certain earwigs 

 are reported by Dr. Wellman to be considered poisonous by the 

 natives of Angola, and Wellman himself thinl^s it possible that septic 

 matter may be introduced by a "bite" from the powerful forceps of 

 the forficulid in question.^" Hasselt has written on an affection of 

 the lips of persons to whose mouths roaches are attracted for food 

 or drink.^^ 



iJourn. N. Y. Ent. Soc, vol. 20, p. 305 (1912). 

 *Tech. trait. Vigne (1914). 



»Burr. Proc. S. Lond. Ent. Soc, 1899, p. (11) (1900). 

 *Ent. News, vol. 19, p. 29 (1908). 



» H. H. Smith, in circular, 2 ser., No. 51, Div. Ent, U. S. Dept. Agric, p. 6 footnote 

 (1902). 

 •Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, vol. 2, p. 10 (1748). 

 ^ Gates, U. S. Naval Med. Bull., vol. 6, p. 212-214 (1912). 

 * Cowan's Curious Facts, p. 79 (1865). 

 •Bull. Ent. Research, Lond., vol. 2, p. 180 (1911). 

 ^'Ent. News, vol. 19, p. 32 (1908). 

 «Tidschr. voor Ent., vol. 8, p. 98-99 (1865). 



