Thus,  then,  to  judge  from  the  aggregate  of  its  characters,
the  harvest  bug,  Leptus  autumnalis,  belongs  to  the  class
Arachnidae,  while  the  number  of  its  feet  places  it  in  the  class
Insects.  But  this  is  a  detail  which  causes  little  annoyance  to  a
person  being  devoured  by  the  "  red  beasts,"  and  only  anxious
to  rid  himself  of  them.
But  if  such  be  his  desire,  let  me  tell  him  that  the  best
remedies  are  bathing  the  afflicted  part  with  lotions  of  vinegar,
or  rubbing  it  with  sulphur  ointment.
I  have  been  asked  whether  certain  tiny  parasites,  such  as
the  Ocypete  rubra^ — which  is  also  red,  and  has  six  feet  like  the
Leptus  autumnalis,  but  which,  instead  of  attacking  man  and
his  domestic  companions,  attaches  itself  to  flies, — I  have
been  asked  whether  these  insectiform  Arachnidse  may  not  be
species  of  larva  not  yet  arrived  at  their  matured  condition.
For  my  part,  I  must  acknowledge  that,  whether  the  Ocypete
rubra  is  or  is  not  the  transitory  state  of  a  more  perfect  animal,
I  do  not  know.  But  I  am  sure  that  the  Leptus  autumnalis  lives
and  dies  on  the  skin  where  it  has  selected  its  dwelling-place, —
a  living  dwelling-place.
It  is  impossible  to  be  too  circumspect  in  the  determination
of  certain  genera  and  species,  whose  different  phases  of  exist-
ence are  little  known,  and  which  seem,  so  far  as  their  charac-
teristics are  concerned,  to  participate  of  several  orders  or


CONFUSION  IN  CLASSIFICATION.         353

classes  of  articulated  animals.     The  errors  which  have  been
committed  in  this  respect  ought  at  least  to  teach  us  caution.
