. Annual report of the Trustees of the State Museum of Natural History for the year ... Science; Museums. Repobt of the State jEntoiwlooist. 2§1 and tlie swelling and irritation wbicli result from it, will sometimes last a week. In very weak and irritable constitutions it may even prove fatal " {Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., for Sept., 1885, p. 404). In consideration of its severe sting-. Dr. LeConte, believing it to be an undescribed species, gave it tbe appropriate name of Beduvius pungens. The following is bis description of tbe species: Beduvius pungens. Black, sbining, wings opaque.
. Annual report of the Trustees of the State Museum of Natural History for the year ... Science; Museums. Repobt of the State jEntoiwlooist. 2§1 and tlie swelling and irritation wbicli result from it, will sometimes last a week. In very weak and irritable constitutions it may even prove fatal " {Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., for Sept., 1885, p. 404). In consideration of its severe sting-. Dr. LeConte, believing it to be an undescribed species, gave it tbe appropriate name of Beduvius pungens. The following is bis description of tbe species: Beduvius pungens. Black, sbining, wings opaque. Head a little bairy, antennse yellowisb-brown, sligbtly bairy, first joint sborter tban tbe bead, second, fourtb and fiftb much longer, sub-equal, tbird very small. Tborax sligbtly margined, stronglj^ constricted in tbe middle, tbe anterior portion rounded and longitudinally sulcate, tbe posterior portion transverse. First paii: of legs bairy on tbe under side, as are tbe tbigbs also of tbe second pair, but tbe tibiae and tarsi of tbe binder legs all over. Lengtb of an incb. Stinging by others of the Reduviidse. Tbere are several otber species of tbe family Beduviidce wbicb bave similar babits to tbe above. Altbougb usually predaceous upon otber insects, and not voluntarily, except witb a few exceptions or in rare instances, attacking man, yet it is by no means safe to handle them incautiously. Under tbe excitement of restraint, they would not hesitate to use their powerful beak as a weapon of defense, burying it deeply in the flesh, and at tbe same time injecting a drop of a poisonous secretion which materially adds to the pain of tbe wound inflicted. Melanolestes abdominalis () — a congener of M. pirates, is said by Glover, if handled roughly, to be capable of inflicting a severe wound. Its ordinary habitat is beneath dead logs, moss, and decaying vegetable material, where it lies in wait for otber insects, seizing them with its strong fore-legs and sucking th
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