88 



THE AMERICAN" ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Colors— (a and b) black aud blood-red. 



Conte*) . — This species belongs to the same ex- 

 tensive group (Heduvius family) as the Two- 

 spotted Corsair, but to a ver3^ differeut division 

 of it. Like tliat insect, it insinuates itself into 

 beds, but instead of having the same commend- 

 able habits, it sucks human blood at tirst hand. 

 '■'While taking his meal," as we are informed, 

 "he fairl3' spraddles himself out, and seems to 

 enjoj' it hugely." In the more southerly parts 

 of Illinois, namely in Madison, Jersey, and 

 Union counties, we know of no less than eight 

 specimens having been found in beds, and it 

 must also occur as far north as Adams county, 

 for we saw it in a collection of insects made at 

 Quincy and exhibited at the State Fair in 1868. 

 Mr. Uhler, as he informs us, " formerly received 

 a specimen from southern Ohio, near Marietta, 

 at which place it was said to be occasionally 

 found in beds and to cause severe infiammation 

 by its puncturing." Dr. E. S. Hull, of Alton, 

 Ills., was once, as he tells us, bitten in three 

 places in the arm by one of these creatures; 

 aud the arm became so inflamed in conse- 

 quence, that for three days afterwards he al- 

 most lost the use of it. In the more northerly 

 parts of the United States, so far as we are 

 aware, it does not occur. Like many of its al- 

 lies it passes the winter in the perfect state ; for 

 we have ourselves captured it in South Illinois 

 under loose bark in November, in company with 

 its pupa (Fig. 74, 6) . 



All the species of this genus, most of which 

 are South American, fly into houses by night, 

 according to Burmeister, and live upon the 

 blood of mammals, the pu.ncture of their beaks 

 causing great pain. In the larval and pupal 

 states they probably suck the jnices of insects; 

 for being wingless in those states, they would 

 have no means of reacliing the larger animals. 

 The single pupa that we found under bark in 

 the winter time occurred in a place that was 

 about half a mile from the nearest house; so 

 that at all events it certainly could have had no 

 chance there to suck human blood bv night. 



•We are indebted to 5Ir. Uhlcr for the specific determi- 

 nation. 



Otiier ringed Animals that are parasitic on Man. 



The Itch Mite (Acarus scabiei, Linn.) — This 

 almost microscopic little creature, like the 

 American Harvest-bug, previously referred to, 

 belongs to the class of Spiders (Arachnida) , and 

 is consequently not a true insect. The itching 

 sores which it produces on the human skin are 

 easily cured by the application of sulphur oint- 

 ment, which kills the Mites that cause the sores, 

 and affords immediate and permanent relief. 

 Since, as has been known since the days of Lin- 

 nteus, the itch is caused by the presence of a 

 Mite, we can readily iinderstand how one per- 

 son communicates it by the touch to another, 

 and how Robinson Crusoe, if he had lived alone 

 on his solitarj^ island for a thousand years, never 

 could have been afiiicted with this so-called dis- 

 ease, unless he had brought it there with him. 



Intestinal Worms {Entozod) . — Some ten or 

 a dozen distinct species of these lowly organized 

 creatures are known to inhabit various parts of 

 the human body. We shall not dwell here upon 

 their natural history, interesting aud instruct- 

 ive as it is, further than to caution our readers 

 against the fatal practice of eating uncooked 

 poi-k, in any of its forms, and whether smoked 

 or unsmoked. It is now satisfactorily proved 

 that the Tape-worm originates from the passage 

 into the human intestines of little bladder-like 

 creatures (Cystadids), which inhabit the liver 

 and other parts of the hog, and when abundant 

 cause the meat of that animal to be technically 

 known as "measly pork." And the notorious 

 Trichina spircdis, wliich is avery minute worm, 

 also found in the flesh of the hog, eflects an en- 

 trance into the hu^mau body in the same insidi- 

 ous manner, and when in excessive numbers 

 causes excruciating pains in the muscles, and 

 sometimes even death. In both these cases, 

 cooking destroys the worms, and prevents them 

 from finding their way alive into the bodj' of 

 the living and breathing man, and there increas- 

 ing and multiplying. When cooked, these lit- 

 tle animals are no more unwholesome than Lob- 

 sters or Crabs, which, although tliey live in the 

 sea, are not fishes, as is popularly imagined, but 

 belong to the same great Branch of Ringed An- 

 imals as do Insects, Spiders, Thousand-legged 

 Worms, and the multifarious Families of the 

 True Worms, whether parasitic or otherwise. 



TUe Coffee Borer. 



The coflee trees in Madras and that part of 

 the East Indies are greatlj' troubled with the 

 cofiee borer, au insect similar to the borers we 

 have had in the acacias. 



