294 THE INSECTS 



head or thorax. Inside this tube are biting parts mandibles and max- 

 illae. The metamorphosis in this order is not marked. 



They have no palpi. The lower lip or labium or beak has it's 

 edges curved to form the tube and it is only covered by the labrum at 

 it's base. With the Diptera the labrum goes into the formation of the 

 sucking tube. The mandibles and maxillae are bristle-like structures 

 serrated at the tip. The mandibles are grooved internally and form 

 when apposed a tube for blood. 



The Acanthiidae. 



These have a flattened body, a three-jointed rostrum, and four- 

 jointed antennae. Their wings are atrophied. 



Acanthia lectularia (Cimex lectularius). This is the cosmopolitan bedbug. 

 It measures about 1/5 by 1/8 of an inch (5 by 3 mm.). It is of a brownish-red color. 

 The most conspicuous feature of the bedbug is the long proboscis continuous with 

 the dorsal integument of the head and tucked under the ventral surface. There 

 are two prominent eyes and two four-jointed antennae. There are eight abdominal 

 segments. The bedbug lives in cracks and crevices, especially about beds. It is 

 said thay can migrate from house to house. At any rate, they are frequently trans- 

 ferred with wash clothes. They have a penetrating odor when crushed. The 

 female deposits about fifty eggs at a time in cracks and in ten days they hatch out 

 into larvae which pass insensibly into adults by a series of five moultings; this deposit- 

 ing of eggs occurs about four times a year. 



The bedbug is very probably the intermediate host in kala azar and it has been 

 incriminated in connection with typhus fever and relapsing fever. 



In India the A. rotundata is the one encountered. It is of a dark mahogany 

 color, has a smaller head, narrower abdomen, thick rounded prothoracic borders 

 and is more densely covered with hairs than A. lectularia. The prothorax of A. 

 lectularia is flattened at the side. 



* 



Reduviidae. 



These bugs have a long narrow head and a distinct neck. The 

 antennae are long and slender. The antennae in the genus Conorhinus 

 are inserted about midway between the eyes and point of the head. 



Conorhinus sanguisuga. This is known as the Texas or Mexican bedbug,- 

 and was formerly the foe of the common bedbug, but having gotten a taste for 

 human blood through the Cimex or Acanthia, it now prefers man. It is extending 

 toward the North. It has wings. The bites are much more severe than those 

 of the common bedbug. It is of a dark brown color, nearly an inch in length, with 

 a long, flat, narrow head and a short thick rostrum. They can run as well as fly. 

 They bite at night. 



