27 



MAîRE teve ocasião de apresentar á Socie- 

 dade Entomolojica de França por intermedio 

 de LABOULBÈNE, um exemplar vivo de T. 

 infestans, proveniente da Argentina (Cordova), 

 o qual havia 7 mezes não se alimentava. 



A vinchuca adulta procura alimentar-se 

 semanalmente; comtudo se a refeição não 

 fôr completa, este prazo é diminuido e al- 

 guns exemplares sugam em dias sucessivos ; 

 quando isto acontece, as refeições são curtas. 

 Todavia, um exemplar Ç que se alimentou 

 durante 10', repetiu a refeição 3 dias após, 

 tendo sugado pelo espaço de 15'. 



As vinchucas chilenas, arjentinas e bra- 

 zileiras comportaram-se praticamente do mesmo 

 modo. 



São de DARWIN no 'Journal of a Na- 

 turalist- p. 330, 1845 as seguintes observações 

 sobre o modo de se comportar da vinchuca : 



*^We slept in the village of Luxan, which 

 is a small place surrounded by gardens and 

 forms the most southern cultivated district in 

 the Province of Mendoza; it is five leagues 

 south of the capital. At night I experienced 

 an attack (for it deserves no less a name) 

 of the Benchuca, a species of Reduvius, the 

 great black bug of the Pampas. It is most 

 disgusting to feel soft, wingless insects about 

 an inch long crawling over one's body. Be- 

 fore sucking they are quite thin, but after- 

 wards they become round and bloated with 

 blood and in this state are easily crushed. 

 One which I caught at Iquique (for they are 

 found in Chile and Perú) was very empty. 

 When placed on a table and though surroun- 

 ded by people, if a finger was presented, 

 the bold insect would immediately protrude 

 its sucker, make a charge and, if allowed, 

 draw blood. No pain was caused by the 

 wound. It was curious to watch its body 

 during the act of sucking, as in less than 

 ten minutes it changed from being as flat as 

 a wafer to a globular form. This one feast, 

 for which the benchuca was indebted to one 

 of the officers, kept it fat during four whole 

 months; but, after the first fortnight, it was 

 quite ready to have another suck». 



FAIRMAIRE diz que a picada da vin- 

 chuca é muito temida, porque faz inchar o 



Die Ernâhrung erfolgt ebenfalls in Zwi- 

 schenráumen. Die Larven saugen durch- 

 schnittlich hõchstens wâhrend 5'; die Nym- 

 phen brauchen 10' und die erwachsenen 

 Wanzen kõnnen 20' saugen. Die Zwischen- 

 ráume wechseln von 4 Tagen bis zu Mo- 

 naten. FAIRMAIRE konnte der Société En- 

 tomologique de France durch LABOULBÈNE 

 ein lebendes , aus Argentinien ( Cordova ) 

 stammendes Exemplar von T. infestans vor- 

 zeigen, welches vier Monate ohne Nahrung 

 geblieben war. 



Die erwachsene Vinchuca sucht wõchent- 

 lich einmal Nahrung; war die letzte Mahlzeit 

 ungeniigend, so wird diese Frist kürzer und 

 einige Individúen saugen an sukzessiven Ta- 

 gen ; dann dauern aber die Mahlzeiten kürzer. 

 Doch sah ich ein mannliches Individuum, 

 das wâhrend 10' gesaugt hatte, schon nach 

 drei Tagen wieder und diesmal wâhrend 15' 

 saugen. 



Die Exemplare aus Chile, Argentinien 

 und Brasilien zeigten keine Unterschiede des 

 Verhaltens. 



DARWIN gab im «Journal of a Natu- 

 ralist» (p. 330 1845) folgende Beobachtungen 

 liber das Verhalten der Vinchuca: 



«We slept in the village of Luxan, which 

 is a small place surrounded by gardens and 

 forms the most southern cultivated district in 

 the Province of Mendoza; it is five leagues 

 south of the capital. At night I experienced 

 an attack (for it deserves no less a name) of 

 the Benchuca, a species of Reduvius, the great 

 black bug of the Pampas. It is most dis- 

 gusting to feel soft, wingless insects about 

 an inch long crawling over one's body. Be- 

 fore sucking they are quite thin, but after- 

 wards they become round and bloated with 

 blood and in this state are easily crushed. 

 One which I caught at Iquique (for they are 

 found in Chile and Peru) was very empty. 

 When placed on a table and though sur- 

 rounded by people, if a finger was presented, 

 the bold insect would immediately protrude 

 its sucker, make a charge and, if allowed, 

 draw blood. No pain was caused by the 

 wound. It was curious to watch its body 

 during the act of sucking, as in less than ten 



