THE BED-BUG 



281 



Of the two pairs of bristles (Fig. 88), one (the man- 

 dibles) is considerably stouter than the other (the 

 maxillae), and the latter are exceedingly 

 fine and delicately saw -like at the free 

 end. Each mandible possesses a sort 

 of flange, along which the correspond- 

 ing maxilla slides, and thus the four 

 bristles unite into one boring weapon. 

 As every one knows, the wound this 

 weapon can inflict is, at least in some 

 cases, exceedingly painful, and pro- 

 ductive of considerable inflammation. 

 Not that any poison is instilled into 

 it, so far as appears ; but the very FIG. 88. Piercing Ap- 



'. J paratus of Bed-Bug. 



minuteness or the punctures seems to md, mandibles ; mx, 



... maxillae. 



be the cause or the irritation, just as 



a prick with an exceedingly fine needle often causes 



intense pain. A few words are necessary to complete our 



picture of the bed-bug's head, for we have yet to speak 



of the antennae and eyes. The former (Fig. 89) proceed 



from the upper surface of 



that part of the head which Jtif* 



lies between the eyes and 



the base of the rostrum, 



FIG. 89. Antenna of Bed-Bug. 



and are remarkable for the small number of their joints, 

 four only being discernible ; the basal joint is small and 

 stout, but the other three long, and, except the second, 

 very slender much finer, in fact, than a human hair. 

 In the fewness and length of the joints of the antennae, 

 the bed-bug is quite in accord with the rest of the 

 members of the division of Hemiptera to which it 

 belongs, viz., the Heteroptera. One usually thinks of 

 antennae as composed of a great number of short joints, 

 and such an idea would be correct for the vast majority 



