XVI. — C/MEZ ROTUNDATUS, SIGNORET. 



By Captain W. S. Patton, I. M.S., Membre Conespondant, 

 SocieU de Pathologic Exotique (Paris) ; King Institute 

 of Preventive Medicine, Madras. 



A reference to the extensive literature on the bed-bug would 

 lead one to suppose there was nothing new to be learnt about 

 this insect, but Mr. K Arsene Girault,' who is at present 

 compiling a complete bibHography of the bed-bug, some five hun- 

 dred odd papers, states that the majority of the accounts are 

 of little value and are merely re-c mpilations ; it is, however, sur- 

 prising to find that erroneous statements regarding the habits of 

 this pest still exist in modern text-books on parasitology. These 

 errors are obviously due to the fact that the writers have compiled 

 their information from old and faulty sources and have not 

 themselves verified the statements of the earlier entomologists. 

 I '''■ recently pointed out that in addition to the misleading and 

 loose statements regarding the habits of this insect, very little was 

 known of the species associated with man. Medical men and 

 others who have conducted experiments with the bed-bug often 

 speak of it by a general name, bug in English, Wanze in German, 

 and punaise in French; the conclusions drawn from such experi- 

 ments must therefore lead to confusion, and very little value can 

 be attached to them. The reason for this inaccuracy is not far to 

 seek: Cimex lectularius, Einngeus, is the onl}^ well-known species; 

 Cimex ciliatus, Eversmann, Cimex rotundatus, Signoret, and Cimex 

 macrocephal'US , Fieber, are so imperfectly known that the majority 

 of investigators take it for granted that Cimex lectutarius is the 

 only bed-bug, the others being very doubtful species ; for this reason 

 the scientific name is often omitted. 



Two 3''ears ago, when conducting my experiments on the bed- 

 bug of Madras, I considered it was Cimex lectutarius, Einnseus, as 

 the only available literature ■' on the subject described this bug as 

 occurring throughout British India and Ce5don ; while Cimex macro- 

 cephahis, Fieber, was onl}^ known from Bhamo (Burma). As the des- 

 cription of lectutarius did not, however, tally with that of the Madras 

 bug, I obtained some living specimens of lectutarius, Einnseus, from 



1 A. Arsene Girault, Psyche, June-August 1905, December 1905, April-June 

 1906 ; Journal of the American Medical Association, July 14, 1908 ; "A Biblio- 

 graphy of the Bed-bug, Cinie.x leciiilarius, Linnaeus," Zoologische Amialen, 1908. 



2 Patton, Indian Medical Gazette, February 1907. 



3 Distant, Fauna of British India — Rhynchota, vol. ii. 



