486 MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 



their bodies with particles of sand, small pieces of stick, dust and other 

 debris until they are completely hidden. If one is caught in the fingers 

 the debris surrounding it comes off and its true nature is revealed. 

 In Madras the nests of mound-building termites are favourite places for 

 the early stages of a species of Acanthaspis. 



The Reduviidae are of the greatest interest to the medical man, as it is 

 in this family that the large blood-sucking species are to be found. 

 Darwin was the first to record the blood-sucking habit of a South 

 American reduviid, Conorhinus infestans, Klug ; it is interesting to note 

 what he says about it in his Journal of a Naturalist. ' We slept in the 

 ' village of Luxan, which is a small place surrounded by gardens and 

 ' forms the most southern cultivated district in the Province of Mendoza ; 

 ' it is five leagues south of the capital. At night I experienced an attack 

 ' (for it deserves no less a name) of the Benchuca, a species of Reduvius, 

 'the great black-bug of the Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft, 

 'wingless insects about an inch long crawling over one's body. Before 

 ' sucking they are quite thin, but afterwards they become round and 

 'bloated with blood, and in this stage are easily crushed. One which 

 ' I caught at Iquique (for they are found in Chili and Peru) was very 

 ' empty. When placed on a table and though surrounded by people, if a 

 ' finger was presented, the bold insect would immediately protrude its 

 ' sucker, make a charge and, if allowed, draw blood. No pain was 

 ' caused by the wound. It was curious to watch its body during the act 

 ' of sucking, as in less than ten minutes it changed from being as flat as 

 ' a wafer to a globular form. This one feast for which the benchuca 

 'was indebted to one of 'the officers, kept it fat during four months ; but 

 'after the first fortnight it was ready to have another suck '. 



The blood-sucking reduviid which has attracted the most attention 

 is Conorhinus megistus, Burm. This species is the invertebrate host of 

 T. cruzi, which causes a fatal form of human typanosomiasis in many 

 parts of Brazil. As far as is known at present all the blood-sucking 

 reduviids belong to the genus Conorhinus. According to Distant this 

 genus belongs to the sub-family Acanthaspidinae, and is placed in the 

 division Conorhinaria. 



DIVISION CONORHINARIA 



Head long, porrect ; anteocular portion of head longer, generally very 

 much longer, than postocular ; a more or less distinct transverse impres- 

 sion between them or immediately between the eyes. (Distant). 



