420 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



move very deliberately step by step, with a long pause 

 between each motion, which is executed in a sudden and 

 jerky manner ; their antennae move at the same rate. If 

 a fly or another insect is offered, it is first touched with 

 the antennae, a sudden spring follows, and at the same 

 time the beak is thrust into the prey." 



The bite of this insect is very painful and leaves a feeling 

 of numbness. Howard relates a case in which a girl was 

 bitten on the neck by this insect. The puncture was 

 followed by considerable swelling. LeConte, writing of 

 this same species, under the name, however, of Reduvius 

 pungens, says, " This species is remarkable for the intense 

 pain caused by its bite. I do not know if it ever willingly 

 plunges its rostrum into any person, but when caught 

 or unskillfully handled, it always stings. In this case, 

 the pain is almost equal to that of the bite of a snake and 

 the swelling and irritation which result from it will some- 

 times last a w r eek. In very weak and irritable constitu- 

 tions it may even prove fatal." 



The so-called "black corsair," Melanolestes picipes, 

 is widely distributed throughout the United States. 

 It is a black bug sometimes with a reddish hue on the 

 back and legs and about two-thirds of an inch in length. 

 It hides beneath stones, logs, etc., and can run swiftly. 



Lintner quotes a letter from a resident of Mississippi re- 

 garding the bite of this insect. The correspondent wrote 

 as follows : " I send a specimen of a fly not known to us 

 here. A few days ago it punctured the finger of my wife, 

 inflicting a painful sting. The swelling was rapid, and 

 for several days the wound was quite annoying. You 

 will observe the peculiar proboscis with which it was 

 made." 



