274 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



residing at Mortlake, became greatly alarmed at finding 

 themselves one morning bug-bitten, not knowing the 

 cause of the inflamed swellings which had appeared 

 upon their persons, and thinking they had contracted 

 some frightful contagious disease. That even at this 

 early date the insects were not entirely unknown, 

 though certainly strange, appears from the ease with 

 which the disquietude of the noble sufferers was allayed 

 by their physician, who was at once able to point out to 

 them the real cause of their disfigurement. 



The inelegant monosyllable we are now accustomed 

 to use as the name of this horrid parasite does not seem 

 to have been applied to it at first; even Mouffet, who 

 speaks of it in Latin as Cimex, gives as the English 

 equivalent of this "wall-louse," but does not mention 

 the word " bug " at all. This, however, is only negative 

 evidence ; and as there appears, to be an undoubted 

 reference to the insect under the shorter name in a 

 play of Massinger's, dated twelve years earlier than 

 Mouffet's treatise, it must have been at least in occa- 

 sional use at that period. " Chinch " is another old 

 name for it, which appears to have become extinct only 

 a generation or two ago. 



The origin of the modern name is somewhat obscure. 

 As applied to the insect, the word "bug" has usually 

 been supposed to be identical with the old British word 

 of the same form, meaning -a hobgoblin, or nocturnal 

 apparition, a word still existing in the compound "bug- 

 bear " ; and the idea was that the name was transferred 

 to the insect in consequence of its nocturnal and dis- 

 gusting habits, and the alarm they occasioned when, 

 as in the instance above referred to, the cause was 

 unknown. But Dr. Murray points out in the ''New 

 English Dictionary " that this is mere conjecture, and no 



