Evening star., 1901-07-16

referring to the fact that It preys upon
bedbugs. says: 1T evidently delights in
human blood but prefers taking it at sec
ond hand DR.. A. Davidson. in an i'm
portant paper entitled 'So-called Spider
Bites and Their Treatment arrives at the
conclusion that almost all of the so-called
spider bites met with in southern Califor-
MIA are produced by no spider at all. but by
Rasahus biguttatus. The symptoms which
he describes are as follows: Next day the
injured part shows a local celluitis with
central dark spot; around this spot there
frequently appears a dubious vesicle about
the size of a 1O-cent piece and filled with
dark grumous fluid: small ulcer forms
underneath the vesicle, the necrotic area
being generally limited to the central part
while the surrounding tissues more or
less swollen and somewhat painful In
few days with rest and proper care the
swelling subsidies, 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 depend
Ing on the constitutional vitality of the in
dividual or the amount Of poison intro
duced The explanation Of the severity OF
the wound suggested by Dr. Davidson in
which the writer fully concurs, is not that
the insect introduces any specific poison Of
Its own, but that the poison introduced is
probably accidental, and contains the or
d1nary putrefactive germs which may ad-
here to it's proboscis. Dr. Dayidson's treat
ment was corrosive sublimate applied to
the wound, keeping the necrotic part
bathed in the solution. The results have
III I'LL cases Deen favorable.
BIOOd-Sucking Cone-Nose.
Perhaps the best known of all the spe-
cies mentioned in our list is the blood
sucking cone-nose. This ferocious insect
belongs to a genus which has several rep
resentatives in the United States, all, how
ever, confined to the south or west The
more recently described species has been
taken at Los Angeles, Dragon, Ariz, and
Salt Lake City. All of these insects are
bloodsuckers and do not hesitate to attack
mammals LeConte, in his description Of
=. sanguisuga, adds most significant
paragraph. will be especially appropriate
here: This insect infiicts a most painful
wound. 1t it remarkable also for sucking
the blood OF mammals. particularly of chill
oren L have known it's bite followed by
very serious consequences, the patient net
recovering from its effects for nearly a
year The many relations which we have
or spider bites frequently proving fatal
have no doubt arisen from the stinps of
these insects or others of the same genera.
When the disease called spider bite is not
an anthrax or carbuncle, it is undoubtedly
occasloned by the bite of an insect by no
means, however, Of a spider. Among the
many species of Araneidae which We have
IN the United States, have never seen one
capable of infiicting the slightest wound
Ignorant persons may easily mistake a
C1MeX for spider. l have known phy-
Slclan who sent to me the fragments of
!arge ant which ne supposed was a spider,
The point made that the constant and
uniform character Of the symptoms in
nearly all cases of bites by this insect indi-
cate that there is a specific poison con-
nected with the bite deserves considera-
ton, but there can be no doubt that the
very serious results which sometimes fol-
low the bite are due to the introduction of
extraneous poison germs Prof Tourney
OF tucson, Artz., shows how a woman
broke out all over the body and limbs with
red blotches and wel.s from a single sting
on the shoulder. Specimens of c. sangui-
suga received from May arsville, Miss were
accompanied by the statement, which is
appropriate In view Of the fact that the
newspapers have insisted that the kissing
bug prefers the lip, that a friend of the
writer was bitten on the lip, and that the
erect was burning pain, intense itching
and much swelling, lasting three or four
days The writer of the letter had been
bitten upon the leg and arm and his
brother had been bitten upon both feet and
legs and on the arm, the symptoms being
the same in all cases.
Bite May BE Mistaken.
More need hardly be said specifically
concerning these biting bugs. The writer's
conclusions are that the bite of any one of
them may be, and frequently has been,
mistaken for spider bite, and that nearly
all reported spider-pite cases have had in
reality this cause; that the se-caIled kiss
ng-bug scare has been based upon GER
tain undoubted cases of the bite of one or
the other of them, but that other bites, in
Guiding mosquitoes, with hysterical and
nervous symptoms produced by the news
paper accounts. have aided in the general
alarm. The case of Miss Larson, who died
In August, 1895, the result of a mos
quito bite, at Mystic, Conn.,, Is an instance
new insect need be looked for to explain
occasional remarkable cases One good re-