280 Forty-first Report on the State Museum. 



States. The. possibility of injury from it sliould therefore be gen- 

 erally known : 



I send a specimen of a fly not known to us here. A few days ago it 

 punctured the finger of my wife, inflicting a painful sting. The 

 swelling was rapid, and for several days the wound was quite annoy- 

 ing. You will observe the peculiar proboscis with which it was made. 

 Will you be good enough to tell me something of the insect. 



Its General Appearance. 

 The insect received was one of the bugs (order of Hemiptera), of 

 about the size (0.65 in.) and general appearance of the 

 " squash-bug," having a formidable jointed beak bent 

 beneath its head and thorax, with which the wound, as 

 above mentioned, was inflicted. Its body is black, some- 

 times with a reddish hue on the back and legs. Its 

 anterior femora (thighs) are swollen, and the tibiae (shanks) 

 terminate in a spongy cushion. Its scientific name is 

 'Fig. ii.— The Melanolestes picipes (Her.-Sch.). An outline figure of it is 

 Mela'nolestes gi"*"®^ i^ Packard's Guide to the Study of Insects, 1869, p. 

 PICIPES. (After 541, under the name of Pirates picipes, by which it was 

 ovei.) formerly known, and from which a common name of "the 



Black Corsair " has been devised for it. Its representation in Figure 

 44, iu natural size, is from Glover's Manuscript Notes from my Jour- 

 nal — Hemiptera. 



Its Geographical Distribution. 



According to Uhler, it is broadly distributed throughout the United 

 States, inhabiting California, Texas, Indian Territory, and the Atlantic 

 region from Maine to Florida and Louisiana, and Para, Brazil. 

 L'abbe Provancher includes it in the fauna of Canada as a rare 

 insect. Mr. Walsh has mentioned it as common in the Western States, 

 under stones and prostrate logs, where it feeds upon various subter- 

 ranean insects {American Entomologist). 



What is Written of its Stinging Powers. 

 A broken and mutilated specimen submitted to Mr. Walsh for name, 

 taken from under a mattress in Kentucky, gorged with human blood, 

 was thought to be this species, which was known, with its sharp and 

 poisonous beak, to pierce and suck the blood of human beings. 

 Glover states of it that it is capable of inflicting a severe sting with 

 its beak, and lives on other insects. Dr. LeConte has written of it as 

 follows: " This species is remarkable for the intense pain caused by 

 its bite. I do not know if it ever willingly plunges its rostrum into 

 any person, but when caught or unskillfully handled, it always stings. 

 In this case, the pain is almost equal to that of the bite of a snake. 



