ORDER VII. HEMIPTERA.—BED-BUGS. 301 
nocturnal, shunning the light. “ Wocturnum fwtidum animal,” says Lin- 
nus. Its body is oval, about the fifth of an inch in length, flat, soft, of 
a brown color, and covered with little hairs. Its head is provided with two 
hairy antenne, and two round black eyes, and has a short beak, curved 
directly under its thorax, and lying in a shallow groove when the animal is 
at rest. This beak, composed of three joints, contains four thin, straight, 
and sharp hairs. The thorax is dilated at the sides. The abdomen is very 
much developed, orbicular, composed of eight segments, very much de- 
pressed, and easily crushed by the fingers. The hemelytra are rudimentary. 
It has no membranous wings. ‘The tarsi have three articulations, of which 
the last is provided with two strong hooks. 
“These animals,” says Moquin Tandon, in his “ Zodlogie Medicale,” 
“do not draw up the sanguineous fluid by suction, properly so called, as 
leeches do. The organization of their buccal apparatus does not allow of 
this. The hairs of the beak, applied the one against the other, exercise a 
sort of alternate motion, which draws the blood up into the esophagus, very 
much in the same manner as water rises ina chain pump. This rising is 
assisted by the viscous nature of the fluid, and, above all, by the globules 
it contains.” The part of the skin which the bug has pierced, producing a 
painful sensation, is easily recognized by a little reddish mark, presenting 
in its centre a dark spot. Generally a little blister rises on the point 
pierced ; and sometimes, if the bug bites are numerous, these blisters be- 
come confluent, and resemble a sort of eruption. These disgusting insects 
lay, towards the month of May, oblong, whitish eggs, having a small aper- 
ture, through which the larva comes out. The larva differs from the insect 
in its perfect state, in its color, which is pale or yellowish, and in having no 
hemelytra or wings. This insect exists in nearly all countries, although it 
is rare or almost unknown in the coldest regions. In the United States 
it is a universal pest. The towns of Central Europe are the most infested 
by this parasite, but those of the north are not completely free from its 
presence. The Marquis de Custine assures us that, at St. Petersburg, he 
found them numerous. It is found also in Scotland; is very rare in the 
south of Europe, and seldom seen in Italy, where it is, however, replaced 
by other insects, more dangerous or more annoying. 
It has been said that this bug was introduced into Europe from America ; 
but Aristotle, Pliny, and Dioscorides mention its existence. It is certain, 
however, that it was unknown in England till the beginning of the sixteenth 
century. The celebrated Spanish naturalist, Azara, has remarked that the 
bug does not infest man in his savage state, but only when congregated to- 
gether in a state of civilization, and in houses, as in Europe and America, 
From this he concluded that the bug was not created till long after man, 
NO. XIX. Su 
