GUANACASTE— SANTA CRUZ 447 



same length running lengthwise from near the middle of the 

 base of each fore wing, and a much smaller spot on the front of 

 the head between the eyes. 



On two successive mornings (January 21 and 22) when I 

 arose, I found on the floor beside my bed in the school room 

 a reduviid or assassin bug, and on one at least of these occa- 

 sions there was a marked though not painful swelling on one 

 ankle. Since these individuals are members of a group 

 known to suck human blood, suspicions as to a cause and 

 effect relation were naturally aroused. The group of in- 

 sects mentioned contains the "blood-sucking cone-nose" 

 {Conorhinus sanguisuga) of the United States and the "bar- 

 beiro" {Conorhinus or Lamus megistus) of Brazil. The 

 latter has been found by Dr. Chagas to serve as a trans- 

 mitter of a trypanosome parasite of the blood of monkeys 

 and of man. The trypanosome, introduced into a healthy 

 person by the barbeiro sucking his blood, gives rise to a 

 number of serious disorders, especially in children. These 

 reduviids have a long and very narrow head, but my Santa 

 Cruz specimens appear to be of the genus Meccus, instead 

 of Conorhinus, because of the greater length of the head be- 

 hind the eyes. The eyes of Meccus being rather small, the 

 length of one eye can be contained two to three times in the 

 length of the postocular region, while the larger eyes of 

 Conorhinus can be contained but once therein. Although 

 the two specimens from the schoolhouse are one inch and 

 half an inch long and have a maximum width of seven- 

 sixteenths and three-sixteenths inches respectively, neither is 

 mature. The adult possesses wings; the larger of my two 

 has wing rudiments one-eighth of an inch long, the smaller 

 none at all. This immaturity makes identification of the 

 species difficult; they resemble M. phyllosoma, recorded 

 only from Mexican localities, as much as any other. 

 The color of these (alcoholic) specimens is brown or slaty 



