

94 THE INSECT WORLD. 






































a “These animals,’ says Moquin-Tandon, in his “ Zoologie 
) Medicale,” “(do not draw up the sanguineous fluid by suction, 
a. properly so-called, as leeches do. The organisation of their 
f buccal apparatus does not allow of this. The hairs of the 
beak applied the one against the other exercise a sort of alter- 
| nate motion, which draws the blood up into the cesophagus, very 
toi much in the same manner as water rises in a chain pump. This 
. rising is assisted by the viscous nature of the fluid, and above 
1 i all, by the globules it contains.” The part of the skin which the 
a bug has pierced, producing a painful enough sensation, is easily. 
recognised by a little reddish mark, presenting in its centre a 
dark spot. Generally a little blister raises itself on the point 
pierced, and sometimes, if the bug-bites are numerous, these 
; blisters become confluent, and resemble a sort of eruption. 
| These disgusting insects lay, tov rards the month of May, oblong 
/ a ~ Whitish eggs (Fig. 71), having a small aperture, 
through which the larva comes out. The larva 
1 i rie Tee ees from the insect in its perfect state, in its 
i Bug, magniaed. ¢golour, which is pale or yellowish, and in having no 
elytra or wings. This insect exists in nearly the whole of Kurope, 
although it is rare or almost unknown in the northern parts. 
The towns of -central Europe are the most infested by this 
parasite, but those of the north are not completely free from 
its presence. The Marquis de Custine assures us that at St. 
Petersburg he found them numerous. It is found also in Scotland 
and is very rare in the south of Kurope ; it is seldom seen in Italy, 
where it is, however, replaced by other insects, more dangerous, 


or more annoying. 
It has been said that the bug was brought into Europe from 
America, but Aristotle, Pliny, and Dioscorides mentioned its 
existence. It is certain that it was unknown in England till 
the beginning of the sixteenth century. A celebrated traveller, 
a Spanish naturalist, Azavra, has remarked that the bug does. 
not infest man in his savage state, but only when congregated 
together in a state of civilization, and in houses, as In HKurope. 
From this he concluded that the bug was not created till long 
after man, when, after many centuries had elapsed since his appear- 
ance on the globe, men formed themselves into societies, into 

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