THE BUG. 



461 



long legs, not only to enable them to creep 

 over the long hairs of plants of leaves, but also 

 to travel from one tree to another when they hap- 

 pen to stand at a distance. Their trunk or 

 snout lies under their breast ; and this they 

 thrust into the pores of the plant to suck out 

 the juice, for they do not gnaw them, like the 

 caterpillar ; but so hurt them by sucking, that 

 the leaves become spotted, and as it were over- 

 run with scabs ; for which reason their edges 

 always turn up towards the middle. 



It has been said, that these insects are often 

 carried away and devoured by ants ; but this 

 Frysch, from whom this description is taken, 

 could never observe. The ants, indeed, are 

 fond of those trees where there is a great num- 

 ber of these insects ; but then it is only to suck 

 the juice which flows from the leaves that have 

 been just wounded. This more particularly 

 happens in the heat of summer, when other 

 moisture is wanting : however, he never found 

 them hurting or carrying away any of these 

 insects while alive ; nor, indeed, were they 

 able, for the leaf-louse is more than a match 

 for the ant at single combat. Whenever they 

 perceive the ant approaching behind them, 

 they kick back with their hinder-feet, and thus 

 drive off the invader, as a horse would a lion. 



The three principal and constant enemies 

 to these insects are, first, the fire-fly, which 

 lays its eggs where these insects are in great- 

 est number, which, producing a worm, seizes 

 and devours all the leaf-lice that come near 

 it : another enemy is the worm of a peculiar 

 kind of beetle, which destroys them in great 

 numbers : but the most formidable of all ene- 

 mies, is the ichneumon fly, that seizes upon 

 one of the largest females, and laying its egg 

 upon her, this is hatched into a worm, which 

 soon devours and destroys the animal from 

 whose body it sprung. 



CHAP. VI. 



OF THE BUG AND ITS VARIETIES. 



THE Bug is another of those nauseous in- 

 sects that intrude upon the retreats of man- 

 kind ; and that often banish that sleep, which 

 even sorrow and anxiety permitted to approach. 

 This, to many men, is of all other insects the 

 most troublesome and obnoxious. The night 

 is usually the season when the wretched have 

 rest from their labour; but this seems the 

 only season when the bug issues from its re- 

 treats, to make its depredations. By day it 

 mrks, like a robber, in the most secret parts of 

 the bed; takes the advantage of every chink 

 and cranny, to make a secure lodgment; and 

 contrives its habitation with so much art, that 



scarce any industry can discover its retreat. 

 It seems to avoid the light with great cun- 

 ning ; and if candles be kept burning, 

 this formidable insect will not issue from its 

 hiding-place. But when darkness promises 

 security, it then issues from every corner of the 

 bed, drops from the tester, crawls from behind 

 the arras, and travels with great assiduity to 

 the unhappy patient, who vainly wishes for 

 rest and refreshment. It is generally vain to 

 destroy one only, as there are hundreds more 

 to revenge their companion's fate ; so that the 

 person who thus is subject to be bitten, re- 

 mains the whole night like a centinel upon 

 duty, rather watching the approach of fresh 

 invaders, than inviting the pleasing approaches 

 of sleep. 1 



Nor are these insects less disagreeable from 

 their nauseous stench, than their unceasing 

 appetites. When they begin to crawl, the 

 whole bed is infected with the smell : but if 

 they are accidentally killed, then it is insup- 

 portable. 



These are a part of the inconveniences that 

 result from the persecution of these odious in- 

 sects ; but happily for Great Britain, they 

 multiply less in these islands than in any part 

 of the continent. 2 In France and Italy the 



1 Bugs. Female bugs lay their eggs four times a- 

 year, namely, in March, May, July, and September, at 

 each season laying fifty eggs; in other words, producing 

 two hundred young in the space of a year. At the age 

 of eleven weeks the young bugs have arrived at maturi- 

 ty, and are ready to become parents in turn. With this 

 data, the following calculation may be made : Suppose 

 one female bug is allowed to enter a house just before 

 laying time in spring, it will produce 50 young in 

 March, of which 25 may be females. In May, the 26 

 females (that is, including the mother) will produce 1300 

 young; take 750 of these as females, we have in July 

 35,500 young; take 15,750 of these as females, along 

 with the former 750, that will be 16,500 females, which 

 in September will bring forth 825,000 young; take 

 412,500 of these as females, along with the former, 

 16,500 females, that will make 429,000, which in the 

 ensuing March will produce 21,450,000; add to these 

 the 429,025 males not reckoned, there is a total of 

 21,909,025, or very nearly twenty-two millions of bugs, 

 all from a single parent in the course of twelve months. 

 If a knowledge of this fact will not induce activity in 

 extirpating the first bug which makes its appearance in 

 a dwelling, we do not know what will. 



2 The Bed Bug. It is supposed to have been in- 

 troduced into this country in the fir timber that was 

 brought over for the purpose of rebuilding London, after 

 it had suffered by the great fire. For it is generally said 

 that bugs were not known in England before that time; 

 and many of them were found almost immediately after- 

 wards in the new-built houses. Their most favourite 

 food is blood, dried paste, size, deal, beech, osier, and 

 some other kinds of timber, the sap of which they suck ; 

 and on any of these they are able to exist. They will 

 riot feed on oak, walnut, cedar, or mahogany ; for seve- 

 ral pairs which, for the sake of experiment, were confined 

 with these kinds of wood, soon died, whilst those kept 

 with the other continued to thrive through the whole 

 year. 



Bugs appear to have been favourite ingredients among 



