THE KISSING BOGEY.

During the past week or two the eastern section of our country has, according to the newspapers, been suffering from the invasion of a new enemy to human comfort, the "kissing bug." It is said to attack sleepers and produce an acute swelling, usually on the lips—its favorite point of attack—hence the popular appellation. So far we have seen little mention of it in medical literature except in the Philadelphia correspondence of the Medical News, which gives a delightfully indefinite description of the creature that is supposed to be the offender, calling it a parasite of the bedbug "about an inch in length, of dark brownish red color, and having six legs and long antennæ." The name given it is, however, a better identification—"opiscaetus" (opsicætus?) personatus, a European species that is quite capable of performing the accredited "kissing bug" role. Other newspaper identifications have been published and it is possible