Relief from the pain may be obtained by the use of dilute ammonia, or a menthol ointment. In the not uncommon case of secondary infection the usual treatment for that should be adopted.
The Reduviidæ, or assassin-bugs are capable of inflicting very painful wounds, as most collectors of Hemiptera know to their sorrow. Some species are frequently to be found in houses and outhouses and Dr. Howard suggests that many of the stories of painful spider bites relate to the attack of these forms.
An interesting psychological study was afforded in the summer of 1899, by the "kissing-bug" scare which swept over the country. It was reported in the daily papers that a new and deadly bug had made its appearance, which had the unpleasant habit of choosing the lips or cheeks for its point of attack on man. So widespread were the stories regarding this supposedly new insect that station entomologists all over the country began to receive suspected specimens for identification. At Cornell there were received, among others, specimens of stone-flies, may-flies and even small moths, with inquiries as to whether they were "kissing-bugs."
Dr. L. O. Howard has shown that the scare had its origin in newspaper reports of some instances of bites by either Melanolestes picipes ([fig. 19a]) or Opsicoetes personatus ([fig. 20]), in the vicinity of Washington, D. C. He then discusses in considerable detail the more prominent of the Reduviidæ which, with greater or less frequency pierce the skin of human beings. These are Opsicoetes personatus, Melanolestes picipes, Coriscus subcoleoptratus ([fig. 19g]), Rasahus thoracicus, Rasahus biguttatus ([fig. 22]), Conorhinus sanguisugus ([fig. 71]), and C. abdominalis ([fig. 23]).