260 
NOTE ON A LEG ABNORMALITY IN ACANTHIA 
LECTULARIA. 
By EDWARD KINDLE, B.A., Ph.D. 
{From the Quick Laboratory, Cambridge.) 
(With 1 Text-figure.) 
Whilst engaged in rearing a number of bed-bugs, the variation 
recorded below was observed in an individual that had just moulted 
from the first to the second nymphal stage. As such an abnormality 
does not appear to have been previously described, it seemed worth while 
to place it on record. 
The accompanying figure (Fig. 1) shows that this individual possesses 
a striking peculiarity in the conformation of its three right legs. On 
the left side the legs are normally developed and as in most insects are 
divided into the following segments commencing with the proximal one : 
coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus. In the adult bug the tarsus 
is three-jointed, but in the early nymphal stages it is impossible to detect 
any signs of these segments. 
In this example, on the left side the legs are not more than half the 
size of those on the right and in addition the segmentation is irregular. 
In the first leg the femur and tibia seem to be fused together and 
from the middle of their length arises a bifid protuberance covered with 
bristles at its two distal extremities. The remaining segments of the 
limb are of normal aspect but, with the possible exception of the coxa, 
are incompletely developed. 
The second right leg resembles the first, there being no distinct 
articulation between the femur and tibia, whilst a bifid protuberance 
arises from what may be regarded as the junction of the two segments. 
In both cases this protuberance seems to be articulated with the fused 
femur and tibia, and to constitute a distinct, though incompletely 
developed, appendage. 
