THE COMMON BUG. 161 



Description. ' 



healed ; and, penetrating much farther into the 

 flesh, would increase the difficulty of extracting. 

 During the great heats extreme care must he 

 taken not to wet the part affected. Without 

 this precaution, experience has proved that the 

 patient is subject to consequences that frequently 

 prove fatal. Tobacco ashes are put into the ori- 

 fice, by which, in a little time, the sore is per- 

 fectly healed. Some, by having neglected in 

 time to. root out these detestable vermin, have 

 not only lost their limbs by amputation, but even 

 their lives. 



THE COMMON BUG. 



THE common bug has a flat back, and legs 

 formed for running. The rostrum is inflected, 

 and the antennae longer than the thorax. It 

 conceals itself by day in crevices and other re- 

 tired places, but runs about with considerable 

 agility in the night to suck the blood of persons 

 that are asleep. Some, however, they will not 

 bite, but annoy them by walking over their faces, 

 and by their abominable smell. 



These nauseous and disagreeable animals are 

 supposed to have been first introduced to this 

 country in the fir timber that was brought over 

 to rebuild 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 



VOL. vi. NO. 42. x 



