THE BED-BUG 275 



direct evidence of the transference of the name is forth- 

 coming; hence it is safer to regard the etymology of 

 the word, as applied to this and other insects, such as 

 the May-bug, &c., as at present unknown. In Shake- 

 speare the word occurs several times, in the sense of 

 a spectre, but never as the name of the parasite, which, 

 indeed, does not appear to be mentioned by that obser- 

 vant author, a tolerably good indication that it was 

 not very common in his time. Southall, indeed, main- 

 tains that when he wrote, bugs had been established in 

 England only for about sixty years, which would throw 

 their first appearance down to the year 1670; but this 

 idea is plainly refuted by the notes of time already 

 mentioned. 



To entomologists the bed-bug is known as Oimex lectu- 

 larius. Cim,ex was the name by which it was known to 

 the Romans, and hence was selected by Linne as the 

 generic term for bugs in general. The specific name 

 lectularius is derived from the Latin word for a couch 

 or bed, and of course refers to the locality in which we 

 most frequently meet with it. 



Though annoying us in the same way as the flea, 

 the bed-bug is yet a totally different sort of insect, 

 and in its life-history departs as widely as possible from 

 its companion bedroom pest. The flea, it will be re- 

 membered, we regarded as a sort of wingless fly, and 

 therefore located it in the order Diptera. The bug, on 

 the other hand, belongs to the order Hemiptera, and 

 finds some of its nearest allies in the plant-bugs, water 

 scorpions, water boatmen, skaters, &c. The most funda- 

 mental distinction between these two orders lies in the 

 nature of the metamorphosis. The Diptera, or flies, 

 as we have already shown, pass through the usual 

 changes in the course of their development, appearing 



