Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899: Volume LVI, No. 1Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899: Volume LVI, No. 1
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
The third of the Eastern species, _Coriscus subcoleoptratus_, is said
by Uhler to have a general distribution in the Northern States, and is
like the species immediately preceding a native insect. There is no
record of any bite by this species, and it is introduced here for the
reason that it attracted the writer's attention crawling upon the walls
of an earth closet in Greene County, New York, where on one occasion it
bit him between the fingers. The pain was sharp, like the prick of a
pin, but only a faint swelling followed, and no further inconvenience.
The insect is mentioned, however, for the reason that, occurring in
such situations, it is one of the forms which are liable to carry
pathogenic bacteria.
[Illustration: RASATUS BIGUTTATUS. Twice natural size. (Original.)]
[Illustration: REDUVIUS (OPSICOSTES) PERSONATUS. Twice natural size.
(Original.)]
There remain for consideration the Southern and Western forms--_Rasatus
thoracicus_ and _R. biguttatus_, and _Conorhinus sanguisugus_.
The two-spotted corsair, as _Rasatus biguttatus_ is popularly termed,
is said by Riley to be found frequently in houses in the Southern
States, and to prey upon bedbugs. Lintner, referring to the fact that
it preys upon bedbugs, says: "It evidently delights in human blood, but
prefers taking it at second hand." Dr. A. Davidson, formerly of Los
Angeles, Cal., in an important paper entitled So-called Spider Bites
and their Treatment, published in the Therapeutic Gazette of February
15, 1897, arrives at the conclusion that almost all of the so-called
spider bites met with in southern California are produced by no spider
at all, but by _Rasatus biguttatus_. The symptoms which he describes
are as follows: "Next day the injured part shows a local cellulitis,
with a central dark spot; around this spot there frequently appears
a bullous vesicle about the size of a ten-cent piece, and filled with
a dark grumous fluid; a small ulcer forms underneath the vesicle, the
necrotic area being generally limited to the central part, while the
surrounding tissues are more or less swollen and somewhat painful. In
a few days, with rest and proper care, the swelling subsides, and in
a week all traces of the cellulitis are usually gone. In some of the
cases no vesicle forms at the point of injury, the formation probably
depending on the constitutional vitality of the individual or the
amount of poison introduced." The explanation of the severity of the
wound suggested by Dr. Davidson, and in which the writer fully concurs
with him, is not that the insect introduces any specific poison of
its own, but that the poison introduced is probably accidental and
contains the ordinary putrefactive germs which may adhere to its
proboscis. Dr. Davidson's treatment was corrosive sublimate--1 to 500
or 1 to 1,000--locally applied to the wound, keeping the necrotic part
bathed in the solution. The results have in all cases been favorable.
Uhler gives the distribution of _R.
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