SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 121 



introduction into print of this subject. All popular beliefs, 

 or prejudices if you will, have more or less of fact as a found- 

 ation and a bug that might with propriety be known as the 

 "kissing bug" is, as anyone knows who lives in Arizona or 

 Texas, an insect that unfortunately is too well known. 



I spent three years in Easteru Arizona on the San Francisco 

 river 3500 feet altitude. The surrounding country is mount- 

 ainous in its general character but in no wise differs in its 

 fauna and flora from most other parts of Arizona. The ex- 

 cessive warmth of summer compels the inhabitants to open all 

 doors and windows at night or sleep in the open. In conse- 

 cjuence they frequently sufl^er from injuries inflicted by scor- 

 pions, centipedes and "kissing bugs." The latter are either 

 fairly common or very active, as scarcelj^ a week passed in the 

 summer time in which I have not seen one oi- more persons 

 suffering from their bite. Though I carefully inquired the 

 nature of this "kissing bug" I failed to find any one who ever 

 had caught one in the act, and I myself had no idea of the 

 exact cause. Dr. Frick, of Metcalf, whom I had enlisted in 

 the search proved more fortunate, and last season he had two 

 specimens brought him at different times that had been caught 

 in the very act. These were examined by J\Ir. Coquillet, to 

 whom they were sent, and pronounced to be Conorhinus san- 

 guisuga Lee, commonly known as the "blood-sucking cone- 

 nose" or "the Texas bed-bug." The injury inflicted is almost 

 invariably confined to the lips, generally the lower and at the 

 junction of the mucous membrane with the skin. The pain 

 is frequently sharp enough to awaken the sleeper and in one 

 case reported by Dr. Frick it was followed by slight shock 

 and nausea. The part bitten rapidly swells and assumes a 

 dark tint. The swelling may vary from the size of an almond 

 to a walnut and is well circumscribed in outline. Without 

 treatment the swelling usually subsides in a fcAv days. In 

 only one instance have I heard of a bite inflicted on any other 

 part of the body and that is probably due in part to the insect 

 confining its attack to the parts of the body exposed while 

 sleeping, or the failure of the bite to cause much swelling when 

 received on parts of the body where the skin tissues are less 

 lax than those of the lips. 



