2 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [January 



THE RED BUG. 



By John Hamilton. M.D. 



Trombidium {Lcptiis) irritans Riley. — This, for the informa- 

 tion of the unitiated, is not a beetle, nor a butterfly; in fact, 

 judging from its size, it is, so to speak, not much of anything. 

 It is said to be the larva of some species of Trombidium — of 

 which is yet unknown; it is scarlet red, about the size of a pin 

 point, say the one thousandeth part of an inch in length and has' 

 six legs (for its figure see Riley's Missouri Reports, vi, p. 122). 

 A small thing, but mighty; a torturer — a murderer of sleep — the 

 tormenter of entomologists, botanists and others who encroach 

 on its domains; not that it bites or stings — it does neither; worse 

 than either, .it just tickles. In olden times, when torturing was 

 in vogue, the very acme of human suffering is said to have been 

 induced by a tickling machine, some of which seem to be yet 

 extant in some museum collections of such implements. 



It is thought to be a vegetarian, inhabiting the coarse grasses 

 growing along ditches and low grounds. Its mode of action is 

 about this: it gets on the clothing, perhaps by accident, and 

 from its minuteness, readily passes through garments, even of 

 the finest texture, till it reaches the skin, over which it crawls 

 till it come^ to one of the larger sweat tubes or pores; say, one 

 six hundred and seventieth of an inch in diameter, and not 

 knowing what kind of territory it has traveled to, it starts down 

 on a tour of investigation ; as the tube is very tortuous and 

 scarcely longer than the Red Bug (by which name it is univer- 

 sally known) its progress is necessarily slow, requiring from 

 about 18 to 36 hours to reach the end of the tube which is closed, 

 and which becomes its tomb. The victim is not aware of what 

 is in store till disrobing for the night, when, if there has been no 

 former experience, there is suddenly developed a bad case of 

 hives, nettlerash, urticaria, all blamed on the oyster, fish and 

 pastry diet of the hotel; a rigid course of dieting and medication 

 is instituted next day, the young hotel doctor always, to his great 

 gain and reputation, confirming the diagnosis of the sufferer. 

 The phenomena following its entrance into the tube is about this: 

 a large circular elevation similar to that in nettlerash forms in a 

 few hours, which on being exposed to the air by dissolving be- 

 comes intensely itchy; don't scratch; if you do, you are undone, 



