
HEMIPTERA. 95 
republics, or little states. Palxontology (the science of fossils) 
has in no way confirmed this opinion. 
The bug is not a gluttonous insect, always blood-thirsty ; on the 
contrary, its sobriety is remarkable. It is only after a prolonged 
fast that it bites animals, and Andouin has stated that it can live 
a year and even two years without food. 
From time immemorial a number of different means have been 
employed for destroying these insects ; but in spite of all, 
nothing is more difficult than to get rid of them from wood-work 
and paper-hangings when they have once infested them. In 
general, strong odours cause their death. And so, to rid oneself 
of these disagreeable guests, it has been recommended to use 
tobacco smoke, essence of turpentine, the fumes of sulphur, &c. 
Mercurial ointment and corrosive sublimate are also excellent 
means for their destruction, and for the same purpose the merits 
jot a plant belonging to the order Crucifere, Lepidium ruderale, 
have been much vaunted, and more recently still the root of the 
Pyrethra, a species of Camomile, reduced to powder, and blown 
into furniture or wood-work. This powder is known and em- 
ployed at Paris under the name of “ poudre insecticide.” 
There are two other kinds of bugs (Acanthia) which attack men. 
'The one is the Acanthia ciliata, which has been found in the houses 
of Kazan, and which differs from the bed bug not only in its form, 
but also in its habits. It does not live in companies, in the narrow 
leracks of furniture, but moves about alone, at a slow pace, over 
the walis or counterpanes of beds. Its beak is very long, and its 
bite is very painful, and produces obstinate swellings. 
The other species is the Acanthia arrondata, which is found in 
the Island of La Reunion, and attacks men in the same way as 
loes the European bug. Two species of the same genus live as 
parasites on swallows and domestic pigeons. ‘There is another 
species which is peculiar to the bats of our climates. 
The Reduvius personatus, called also fly-bug, by Geoffroy, the 
pld historian of the insects of the environs of Paris, is common 
mough in France. It keeps to the houses, and is found especially 
jwear ovens and chimney-pieces. It is about three quarters of an 
neh in length, oblong, flat on its upper side, brownish, has hori- 
9 24 
jrontal elytra crossed over each other, and very fully developed 



