Iron County register., 1880-09-02
'.Bite the Stranger "...A Queer Per.
sian Bug.

ONE of the first questions which i
asked of the stable attendants was
whether they could show me a specimen
of the Bite the stranger" After few
minutes search the man brought me
out half a dozen in the palm of his
hand. The largest was not over the
third Of an inch in length, and re-
sembled in form what is vulgarly known
as the wood-louse in England. 1t
was of silvery- gray appearance and
had, as l carefully remarked, eight legs,
four on each side. should at once
have set it down as one of the arachnoid,
or spider family, were It not for the en-
tire absence of the dual division of
cephalotkordr and abdomen which dis
tinguish that family. Notwithstanding
this, it may, and probably does, belong
to the family in question. Its sting Is
productive of the worst results. A small
dinary flea is at first seen. Then fol-
lows a large black spot, which subse-
quently suppurates, accompanied by \
high fever, identical, so far as external
symptoms go, with intermittent fever.
In this it is like the bite of the tarantula,
or l,halange, of the Turcoman plains.
L
produced by the sting of this insect,
known scientifically as the argo PerSicd,
and locally as the garriJ-ges and Genne,
if neglected for any length of time, is
fatal. 1t is accompanied by lassitude,
loss of appetite, and in some cases de-
lirium.
1t is styled by the inhabitants of the
places which it fre1uents the "Bite the
| i.,tr La hob -, Of hn
place never experience any inconveni-
belief that once a person has been stung,
the same individual, and this would
seem to be borne out by fact; for the
people living in the village of Mesrah
laughed at my fears as l carefully
perched myself on the top Of
n rock with a view of keep
ing out of the way of the local
bugs, while the people of the place kept
them with impunity in the palms of
going to Teheran last year, happening
to stay at this hamlet of Mesrah, were
stung by the garrib -9es. All were i'll,
Numerous cases of death can be cited as
Iiic lCSuiI VI tuC SIiuS Vi euc u'yu 4 Sf- =
sica. Speaking on the question to n
Persian doctor, he informed me that it
was the custom, when any important
parsonage was travelling through any
district infested by these Persian
bugs" that his attendants administered
to MIN without his knowledge one of the
''bugs" concealed in a piece of bread
during the early morning. Experience
has shown that when one has been Bit
ten and recovers he is for the future
guaranteed against further injury. Itis
kind of inoculation, and the local
physicians believe that the poison taken
through the stomach is administered
with equally good effect as if received
directly into circulation. A leading
European member of Teheran society
informed me that he had simultaneously
received seventy-threc stings from these
insects, the bites having been counted
by his servants. The result was an ex-
treme amount of fever, winding up with
delirium on the fifth day. Violent
emetics, followed by doses of quinine,
were given without effect, and it was
only on taking large quantities of tan
min, in the form of a decoction of the
rind of the wild pomegranate, that the
patient recovered.-Persidn Letter TO
The London NeUs.