94 THE INSECT WORLD. 
«These animals,” says Moquin-Tandon, in his “ Zoologie 
Medicale,” “(do not draw up the sanguineous fluid by suction, 
properly: so-called, as leeches do. The organisation 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 in a 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 
recognised 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 
become confluent, and resemble a sort of eruption. These dis- 
gusting insects lay towards the month of May, oblong whitish 
egos (Fig. 71), having a small aperture, through 
‘ which the larva comes out. The larva differs from 
the insect in its perfect state, in its colour, which 
Fig. 71.—Egg of . : : : : 
Bug, magnified. is pale or yellowish, and in having no hemelytra or 
wings. This insect exists in nearly the whole of Europe, 
although it is rare or almost unknown in the northern parts. 
The towns of central Europe are the most infested by this para- 
site, but those of the north are not completely free from its 
presence. The Marquis de Custine assures us that at St. Peters- 
burg he found them numerous. It is found also in Scotland ; 
is very rare in the south of Kurope; and seldom seen in Italy, 
where it is, however, replaced by other insects, more dangerous 
or more annoying. 
Tt has been said that the bug was brought into Europe from 
America; but Aristotle, Pliny, and Dioscorides, mention its exist- 
ence. It is certain that it was unknown in England till the 
beginning of the sixteenth century. A celebrated traveller, a 
Spanish naturalist, Azara, has remarked that the bug does not 
infest man in his savage state, but only when congregated together 
in a state of civilisation, and in houses, as in Europe. From 
this he. concluded that the bug was not created till long after 
man, when, after many centuries had elapsed since his appearance 
on the globe, men formed themselves into societies, into republics, 

