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well-marked neck ; a row of ctenidia situated along the posterior border of 

 head and an oblique row on the dorsal surface. Labrum well developed. 

 Antennae short, four-jointed and directed backwards. Prothorax 

 elongated and broadest a little behind the centre ; anterior angles somewhat 

 prolonged. In addition to a number of small bristles there is a row of 

 three or more long ones on the dorsal surface of the prothorax, and a row 

 of ctenidia along the posterior border. Elytra elongated, somewhat quadri- 

 lateral in shape, united in front and separated behind ; their posterior 

 borders may or may not be armed with ctenidia. Abdomen ovoid in 

 shape, consisting of eight segments, a row of small bristles on the posterior 

 borders of the dorsal surface of each segment; the bristles on the last 

 three segments are longer. Legs relatively short, tarsi four-jointed in 

 imago and three-jointed in nymph. 



This remarkable family of bugs, of which seven species and nineteen 

 specimens are known, contains the single genus Polyctenes, Gigl. They 

 are all parasitic on bats and live deep down in the fur of their hosts, 

 where they may be very easily overlooked. Westwood placed the family 

 Polyctenidae in the order Anoplura, but Waterhouse, who had the oppor- 

 tunity of studying an American species, believed they were true bugs". 

 Still later Speiser examined two new species and was able to confirm 

 Waterhouse's statements, that they are closely allied to the Cimicidae. 

 In the larval stage the ctenidia are present on the head, in the nymphal 

 stage they appear on the elytra, and in the adult stage on the thorax. 

 Speiser gives the following list of species : 



P. molossus, Gigl., from the ' Chinese Molossus,' from Amoy. 



P. lyrae, Waterh., from Megaderma lyra, from Secunderabad, India. 



P. intermedius, Speiser, from Taphozous perforates, from Egypt. 



P. talpa, Speiser, from Megaderma spasma, from Nias, and from 

 Cynopterus marginatus from Trivandrum, South India. 



P. spasmae, Waterh., from Megaderma spasma, from Java. 



P. longiceps, Waterh., from Molossus abrasus from Cajabon in 

 Guatemala. 



P. fumarius, Westw., from Molossus rufus var. obscurus, from 

 Jamaica. 



INTERNAL ANATOMY OF CIMEX ROTUNDATUS 



The alimentary tract of the bed bug is simple in form and of moderate 

 length. It consists of a sucking pump in the head, comparable to that 

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