BUGLE BUGLOSS. 



641 



afterwards, on examining the roof of another hol- 

 low tree, from which he had driven thirty-seven 

 bats with a stick, its extremity was covered with 

 bugs. At Christmas neither bats nor bugs were 

 to be found in this tree, which had been also in- 

 habited by woodpeckers and squirrels, the bugs having 

 probably been carried from some habitation by the 

 bats, and having been found in company with them 

 in the former instance on an uninhabited island. It 

 may be asked, how so many bugs could have been 

 nourished upon so few bats, even supposing that they 

 were really parasitic upon them ; but stone-buildings 

 are occasionally infested with bugs although unin- 

 habited for a year, and yet the numbers have not 

 been lessened ; hence Oedmann supposes that they 

 eat one another when they have no other nourish- 

 ment, their loss being supplied by their great multi- 

 plication. In confirmation of which, M. Carlson 

 adds, that, in 1777, he found an old rotten stake, 

 which had been used as a hedge-stake, and not in or 

 near either house or building, so covered with bugs, 

 that it resembled an ant-hill ; it was not hollow, and 

 therefore could not be inhabited by bats ; he there- 

 fore concludes that they live and propagate even in 

 timber ; they also bear the winter cold, as he placed 

 a piece of furniture in the open air for three winters, 

 and every summer bugs were observed upon it iiv 

 great numbers. 



It would appear that there are several species of 

 these insects. Fabricius, after describing the common 

 European species as never occurring with wings, 

 adds another species, under the name of C. hcmiptera, 

 having rudiments of wing-covers, and inhabiting the 

 houses of South America. 



Southall, who tells a marvellous story of his 

 journeying to the West Indies, where he was 

 tormented with bugs, and of his meeting with " an 

 ancient black negro, very clean," who informed him 

 that his cleanliness was owing to his being free from 

 bugs, describes and figures the American bug, which 

 is somewhat larger than our common species. 

 Latreille also states that the latter has been 

 asserted occasionally to acquire wings. It also 

 infests young pigeons, swallows' nests, &c. ; but 

 those which live upon the latter bird appeared to him 

 to form a distinct species. More recently, at the 

 meeting of German naturalists at Breslaw, a winged 

 species was described under the name of Cimex 

 domesticus. According to Southall, these insects are 

 eleven weeks in attaining their full growth, and they 

 spawn four times in a year. 



Numerous remedies have been from time to time 

 proposed by various writers for the purpose either of 

 driving away or killing these insects, which are almost 

 as notorious for their disagreeable scent as for their 

 annoying propensities. Of these remedies, Mouffet 

 gives a long list ; Mr. Brande has given another in 

 the index to the Materia Medica. We have known 

 that an uninhabited house which swarmed with these 

 insects has been completely cleared by a powerful 

 fumigation of brimstone. And Southall, who ob- 

 tained from his " ancient black negro" the secret of 

 making a fluid for the prevention of bug bites, states 

 it to have been made by boiling several strong herbs, 

 as herb Robert, cormint, &c. in water, and adding 

 corrosive sublimate and sal ammonia; this liquid 

 being applied with a sponge to furniture, &c. Our 

 readers will, perhaps, smile at this statement, and 

 inquire how the negro had gained a knowledge of 

 English herbs, and the other substances employed, 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



and will probably be inclined to think the whole 

 story to savour rather of quackery. We will only add, 

 that these remedies are, for the most part, either in- 

 sufficient or dangerous, and that by carefully examining 

 furniture infested at the commencement of the spring, 

 and by strict cleanliness, they will either be entirely 

 destroyed, or their numbers considerably reduced. 



But if our common species, which does not exceed 

 a sixth of an inch in length, be able to produce such 

 annoyance, how much greater must be the torment 

 caused to the inhabitants of Chili by a winged insect 

 called benchuca, in shape and form like our common 

 species, but of the size of a cockchafer. This species 

 conceals itself by day in the thatch and cane roofing 

 of the houses, and sallies forth at night in quest of 

 food. They annoy people much after the manner of 

 our bug, but from their great size are terrific enemies. 

 They are thin and flat like the common bug, but after 

 satiating themselves with blood, of which they take 

 as much as the medicinal leech, they become quite 

 round. St. Pierre likewise, in his Voyage to the Isle 

 of France, mentions a species of bug found in that 

 island, the bite of which is more venomous than the 

 sting of a scorpion, and is succeeded by a swelling 

 as large as a pigeon's egg, and which continues for four 

 or five days. 



In speaking of the paucity of the species belonging 

 to the genus Cimex, the student will understand that 

 we refer to the restricted group adopted by modern 

 entomologists. The Linnsean genus comprises several 

 hundred species, which together compose the section 

 Hemiptera geocorisa, or the families of land bugs, 

 the majority of which are furnished with ample-sized 

 wings and wing-covers ; the latter, however, instead 

 of being of the same substance throughout, as is the 

 case in the beetles and grasshoppers, are opaque and 

 coriaceous, or leathery, at the base, and membranous 

 at the extremity, the two parts being separated by a 

 strong nerve. They also differ from the beetles in 

 the nature of their transformations ; for, whilst the 

 latter pass the intermediate state between the grub 

 and beetle namely, that .of the pupa in a quiescent 

 state, the bugs are active throughout the whole period 

 of their existence. It is true, however, that they 

 undergo a series of changes perfectly analogous to 

 those of the beetles. Thus, during the early portion 

 of their lives, they shed their skins several times, by 

 which means they are enabled to increase in size ; 

 they then again shed their skin, when a pair of short 

 rudimental wing-covers are seen upon the back, which, 

 at the next moulting, are developed into a large pair 

 of wing-covers, concealing a pair of delicate wings. 

 The Cimex lectularius undergoes these changes as 

 well as the winged species, but in it the development 

 of the wing-cases is not perfected. This insect is 

 devoured by another Linmran species of Cimex, viz., 

 Reduvins ptrsonatus, so named from the covering of 

 dust, &c., beneath which the larvae is masked. 



BUGLE is the Ajuga (a yoke) of Linnaeas. A 

 family of herbaceous annuals and perennials, contain- 

 ing eleven species, four of which, and two varieties, 

 are inhabitants of Britain. They belong to the 

 natural order Labiatce, and though all wild r are 

 rather handsome flowering plants. 



BUGLOSS is the Anchusa (paint for the skin) of 

 Linnaeus. A genus of annual, biennial, and perennial 

 herbs, chiefly natives of Europe. They belong to 

 Pentandria Monogynia, and to the natural order 

 Boraginece. The common bugloss, A. officinalis, or 

 ox-tongue, and the evergreen, A. sempervirens, are 

 3 B 



