374 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
and in any dark and narrow crevices ; and it starts forth at 
night time to look for its victims, and displays a surprising 
amount of instinct and perseverance. Some people remove their 
beds away from the walls with the notion that they are beyond 
the reach of such very intimate visitors, but the bugs crawl up 
on to the ceiling, and when they come immediately over the 
sleepers they let themselves fall, and proceed to enjoy them- 
selves forthwith. They lay their eggs in hidden places, and 
when they are hatched the young ones grow with greater or 
less rapidity, according to the temperature of the room and the 
corpulency of its inhabitants. They change their skins very often, 
and the husks we see are not dead insects, but those of vigorous 
ones which are only a little way off. They undergo a very 
incomplete metamorphosis, and the adult insects never have any 
wings, and they thus resemble the larvae and nymphs of the other 
Hemiptera. We may thank Providence that they have no wings. 
They have, as everybody knows, a peculiar smell. The female bug 
lays her eggs at the beginning of summer, and the larvae, when 
hatched, are small, white, and semi-transparent, of a slightly 
different form from the parent, and they take eleven weeks to 
attain their full size. 
The Reduviince have rather slender bodies, and are essentially 
carnivorous in their habits. They run swiftly over the ground, 
and chase other insects, which they kill and eat. Curiously enough, 
they are especially fond of the bed bug, but, unfortunately, they 
are rather scarce, so that it does not seem possible to keep them 
in houses and to train them up to indulge in this very important 
peculiarity. They have a sharp and elongated beak, which is 
strong enough to pierce the skins of the animals upon which they 
live, and its bite produces much pain. The species are scattered 
all over the globe, but are much more numerous in warm than 
in cold countries, only a few being found in Europe. The largest 
and finest are natives of India and America. The common 
species, however, is the European Reduvius personatus. It is 
generally found inside houses living amongst the dust and fluff. 
It is then in the condition of a larva or nymph, and it hides 
itself by covering its body with those evidences of uncleanly 
habits. When it becomes an adult it obtains its wings and 
