Dark Banquet

by Bill Schutt

  Finally, although an 1855 paper Bruce Cummings, The Bed-Bug: Its Habits and Life History and How to Deal with It, 6th ed., Economic Series No. 5, British Museum (Natural History) (London: Adlard and Son, Limited, Bartholomew Press, Dorking) 1949, 17.

  Recently, scientist David Reed and his co-workers David L. Reed, Jessica E. Light, Julie M. Allen, and Jeremy J. Kirchman, “Pair of Lice Lost or Parasites Regained: The Evolutionary History of Anthropoid Primate Lice,” BMC Biology 5, no. 7 (March 7, 2007), doi:10.1186/1741-7007-5-7.

  Monograph of Cimicidae Usinger, Monograph of Cimicidae, 1–7.

  Medicinal uses for bed bugs Ibid., 7.

  Quintus Serenus was another Roman Ibid.

  According to Usinger Ibid.

  A Treatise of Buggs John Southall, A Treatise of Buggs (London, 1730).

  Southall’s interviews supported the claims Ibid., 3.

  In this regard, the Yanks were Cummings, The Bed-Bug: Its Habits and Life History and How to Deal With It, 3.

  Currently, scientists recognize around Usinger, Monograph of Cimicidae, 1.

  Reflecting their worldwide distribution Ibid, 4–5.

  Besides “red coats” and “heavy dragoons” Cummings, The Bed-Bug: Its Habits and Life History and How to Deal With It, 3.

  Harkening back to the enormous Ibid., 12.

  Speaking of bugs, the English word Usinger, Monograph of Cimicidae, 5.

  Fortunately, in some states New York State, Department of State, Division of Licensing Services, “Manufacture, Repairer-Renovator or Rebuilder of New and/or Used Bedding and/or Retailer/Wholesaler of Used Bedding Application,” http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lcns/instructions/1427ins.htm.

  8: OF MITES AND MEN

  During World War II Tyler A. Woolley, Acarology: Mites and Human Welfare (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1988), 444.

  With no specific treatment available D. J. Kelly, A. L. Richards, J. Temenak, D. Strickman, and G. A. Dasch. “The Past and Present Threat of Rickettsial Diseases to Military Medicine and International Public Health,” Clinical Infectious Disease 34, Suppl. 4 (2002): S145–69.

  All along the Papuan coast Emory C. Cushing, History of Entomology in World War II (Pub. 4294). (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1957), 80–81.

  Eventually, antibiotics like tetracycline, doxycycline, and chloramphenicol George Watt and David Walker. “Scrub Typhus,” in Tropical Infectious Diseases: Principles, Pathogens, and Practice, vol. 1, ed. Richard Guerrant, David H. Walker, and Peter Weller, 592–97. (Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone, 1999).

  In parts of northern Thailand George Watt, C. Chouriyagune, R. Ruangweerayud, P. Watcharapichat, D. Phulsuksombati, K. Jongsakul, et al., “Scrub Typhus Infections Poorly Responsive to Antibiotics in Northern Thailand,” Lancet, 348 (1996): 86–89.

  The basic premise, proposed by Gavin de Beer, Embryology and Evolution (Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1930).

  and reinvigorated by Stephen Stephen Jay Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1977), 4.

  Among the acarids, perhaps the strangest Timothy G. Myles, “Observations on Mites (Acari) Associated with the Eastern Subterranean Termites, Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae),” Sociobiology 39, no. 2 (2002): 277–80.

  In perhaps the strangest case of phoresy R. K. Colwell, “Effects of Nectar Consumption by the Hummingbird Flower Mite Proctolaelaps kirmsei on Nectar Availability in Hamelia patens,” Biotropica 27 (1995): 206–17.

  Acarologist Tyler Woolley Woolley, Acarology: Mites and Human Welfare, 3.

  According to entomologists R. Chapman and H. Shepard Arnold Mallis, Handbook of Pest Control, 2d ed. (New York: MacNair-Dorland Co., 1954), 863.

  And in a quote that immediately reminded R. N. Chapman and H. H. Shepard, “Insects Infesting Stored Food Products,” University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin 198 (1932).

  For example, approximately 140 William Olkowski, Sheila Daar, and Helga Olkowski. Common-Sense Pest Control (Newtown, Ct.: Taunton Press, 1991), 159.

  Scabies is a condition that produces Ibid., 164–66.

  Scabies is a disease of herding John H. Stokes, “Scabies Among the Well-to-Do,” Journal of the American Medical Association 106 (1936): 675.

  Varroa can be considered an invertebrate vampire Gwilym O. Evans, Principles of Acarology (Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 1992), 173–74.

  In a pilot study published by the International Association Wolfgang Harst, Jochen Kuhn, and Hermann Stever, “Can Electromagnetic Exposure Cause a Change in Behavior? Acta Systemica—IIAS International Journal 6, no. 1 (2005): 1–6.

  A number of researchers have B. V. Ball and M. F. Allen, “The Prevalence of Pathogens in the Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Colonies Infected with the Parasitic Mite Varroa jacobsoni, Annals of Applied Biology 113 (1988): 337–44.

  These viruses are thought J. R. de Miranda, M. Drebot, S. Tyler, M. Shen, C. E. Cameron, D. B. Stoltz, et al., “Complete Nucleotide Sequence of Kashmir Bee Virus and Comparison with Acute Bee Paralysis Virus, Journal of General Virology 85 (2004): 2263–70.

  Pellegrino gave another “Bat Die-Off Prompts Investigation; DEC Asks for Cavers’ Help to Prevent Spread of ‘White Nose Syndrome,’” New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/41621.htm, January 30, 2008.

  Many of these species are relatively harmless Evans, Principles of Acarology, 187–188.

  What saved civilization, apparently Andrew B. Appleby, “The Disappearance of the Plague: A Continuing Puzzle,” Economic History Review 33, no. 2 (2004): 161–73.

  Hard-bodied ticks, ixodids Evans, Principles of Acarology, 390.

  For example, the larval instars of Ibid., 179.

  Similarly, Dr. Lauren Krupp and her colleagues L. B. Krupp, L. G. Hyman, R. Grimson, P. K. Coyle, P. Melville, S. Ahnn, et al., “Study and Treatment of Post Lyme Disease (STOP-LD): A Randomized Double Masked Clinical Trial,” Neurology 60 (2003): 1923–30.

  Alternatively, some researchers felt A. C. Steere, E. Taylor, G. L. McHugh, and E. L. Logigian, “The Overdiagnosis of Lyme Disease,” Journal of the American Medical Association 269, no. 14 (1993): 1812–16.

  9: CANDIRU: TROUBLE WITH A CAPITAL C AND THAT RHYMES WITH P

  According to some of these Stephen Spotte, Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfish (Berkeley, Calif.: Creative Arts Book Company, 2001), 157–66.

  These fishes are greatly attracted by the odor Ibid., 157. From a translation in Carl H. Eigenmann, “The Pygidiidae, a Family of South American Catfishes,” in Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum (Pittsburgh, Penn.: Carnegie Museum, 1918), 259–98.

  Fortunately, as with the candiru’s fellow Spotte, Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfish.

  Candiru belong to the Trichomycteridae Warren Burgess, An Atlas of Freshwater and Marine Catfishes (Neptune City, N.J.: TFH Publications, 1993), 305–25.

  Trichomycterids, most of which are rather plain-looking Spotte, Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfish, 5.

  Within the Trichomycteridae is a small subfamily Ibid.

  According to Dr. Spotte Ibid., 50–51.

  a technique detailed in an article published Kenneth W. Vinton and W. H. Stickler, “The Carnero: A Fish Parasite of Man and Possibly Other Mammals,” Journal of Surgery N.S. 54 (1941): 511–19.

  There have been numerous anecdotal descriptions Paulo Petry, Anoar Samad, and Stephen Spotte, “Candiru Attack on Human in the Amazon River: Hard Evidence for a Long Standing Myth” (paper presented at the American Society of Herpetologists and Ichthyologists, July 6, 2001).

  A recent claim by researchers Jansen Zuanon and Ivan Sazima, “Vampire Catfishes Seek the Aorta Not the Jugular: Candirus of the Genus Vandellia (Trichomycteridae) Feed on Major Gill Arteries of Host Fishes,” Journal of Ichthyology & Aquatic Biology 8, no. 1 (2003): 31–36.

  In the “urine-loving hypothesis” Spotte, Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfish, 142
–49.

  Interestingly, these apparent drawbacks Eigenmann, “The Pygidiidae, a family of South American Catfishes,” 266–67.

  In what has become known Spotte, Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfish, 154–56.

  10: A TOUGH WAY TO MAKE A LIVING

  What was so thought provoking Kurt Vonnegut, Galápagos, (New York: Delacorte Press, 1985).

  In that regard, they Dolph Schluter and Peter Grant, “Ecological Correlates of Morphological Evolution in a Darwin’s Finch, Geospiza difficilis,” Evolution 38, no. 4 (1984): 856–69.

  Geospiza difficilis is widely distributed Peter Grant, B. Rosemary Grant, and Kenneth Petren, “The Allopatric Phase of Speciation: The Sharp-Beaked Ground Finch (Geospiza difficilis) on the Galápagos Islands,” British Journal of the Linnaean Society 69 (2000): 287–317.

  We should judge every scrap of biodiversity Edward O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1992), 351.

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ARTICLES

  Clarfield, A. Mark. “Stalin’s Death (or ‘Death of a Tyrant’).” Annals of Long-Term Care 13, no. 3 (2005): 52–54.

  Ditmars, Raymond L., and Arthur M. Greenhall. “The Vampire Bat—A Presentation of Undescribed Habits and Review of Its History.” Zoologica 4 (1935): 53–76.

  Goodwin, George, and Arthur M. Greenhall. “A Review of the Bats of Trinidad and Tobago,” Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 122 (1961): 187–301.

  Gould, Steven J., and Richard Lewontin. “The Spandrels of San Marcos.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 205 (1979): 581–98.

  Huxley, Thomas H. “On the Structure of the Stomach in Desmodus Rufus.” Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 35 (1865): 386–90.

  Keegan, Hugh L., Myron G. Radke, and David A. Murphy. “Nasal Leech Infestation in Man.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 19, no. 6 (1970): 1029–30.

  McFarland, William N., and William A. Wimsatt. “Renal Function and Its Relationship to the Ecology of the Vampire Bat, Desmodus Rotundus.” Comparative Biochemical Physiology 28 (1970): 985–1006.

  Mitchell, Clay G., and James R. Tigner. “The Route of Ingested Blood in the Vampire Bat,” Journal of Mammalogy 51, no. 4 (1970): 814–17.

  Myles, Timothy G., “Observations on Mites (Acari) Associated with the Eastern Subterranean Termites, Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).” Sociobiology 39, no. 2 (2002): 277–80.

  Park, A. “The Case of the Disappearing Leech.” British Journal of Plastic Surgery 46 (1993): 543.

  Schutt, William A., Jr., and J. Scott Altenbach. “A Sixth Digit in Diphylla ecaudata, the Hairy-Legged Vampire Bat.” Mammalia 61, no. 2 (1997): 280–85.

  Schutt, William A., Jr., John Hermanson, Young-Hui Chang, Dennis Cullinane, J. Scott Altenbach, Farouk Muradali, and John Bertram. “Functional Morphology of the Common Vampire Bat, Desmodus rotundus.” Journal of Experimental Biology 200, no. 23 (1997): 3003–12.

  Schutt, William A., Jr., Farouk Muradali, Naim Mondol, Keith Joseph, and Kim Brockmann. “The Behavior and Maintenance of Captive White-Winged Vampire Bats, Diaemus youngi (Phyllostomidae: Desmodontinae).” Journal of Mammalogy 80, no. 1 (1999): 71–81.

  Schutt, William A., Jr., and Nancy B. Simmons. “Morphology and Homology of the Chiropteran Calcar. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 5, no. 1 (1998): 1–32.

  Steere, A. C., E. Taylor, G. L. McHugh, and E. L. Logigian, “The Overdiagnosis of Lyme Disease,” Journal of the American Medical Association 269, no. 14 (1993): 1812–16.

  Wilkinson, Gerald S. “Reciprocal Food Sharing in the Vampire Bat.” Nature 308 (1984): 181.

  Wimsatt, William A., and Anthony Geurriere. “Observations on the Feeding Capacities and Excretory Functions of Captive Vampire Bats.” Journal of Mammalogy 43 (1962): 17–26.

  BOOKS

  Altenbach, J. Scott. Locomotor Morphology of the Vampire Bat, Desmodus rotundus. Special Pub. No. 6, American Society of Mammalogists, 1979.

  Brown, David E. Vampiro—The Vampire Bat in Fact and Fantasy. Silver City, N. Mex.: High-Lonesome Books, 1994.

  Bunson, Matthew. The Vampire Encyclopedia. New York: Gramercy, 1993.

  de Beer, Gavin. Embryology and Evolution. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1930.

  Cushing, Emory C. History of Entomology in World War II. Pub. No. 4294. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1957.

  Evans, Gwilym O. Principles of Acarology. Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 1992.

  Florescu, Radu, and Raymond T. McNally. Dracula—A Biography of Vlad the Impaler. New York: Hawthorne Books, 1973.

  Gould, Stephen Jay. Ontogeny and Phylogeny. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1977.

  Gould, Stephen Jay. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989.

  Greenhall, Arthur M., and Uwe Schmidt, eds. Natural History of Vampire Bats. Boca Raton, Fl.: CRC Press, 1988.

  Hayes, Bill. Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood. New York: Random House, 2005.

  Kunz, Thomas H., and Paul Racey, eds. Bat Biology and Conservation. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1998.

  Moore, Wendy. The Knife Man. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.

  Radzinsky, Edvard. Stalin. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

  Reiss, Oscar. Medicine and the American Revolution. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Co., 1998.

  Root-Bernstei, Robert and Michèle. Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

  Sawyer, Roy T. Leech Biology and Behavior, vol. 1: Anatomy, Physiology, and Behavior. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1986.

  Sawyer, Roy T. Leech Biology and Behavior, vol. 2: Feeding Biology, Ecology, and Systematics. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1986.

  Sawyer, Roy T. Leech Biology and Behavior, vol. 3: Bibliography. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1986.

  Sigerist, Henry E. A History of Medicine, vol. 1: Primitive and Archaic Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1951.

  Southall, John. A Treatise of Buggs. London, 1730.

  Spotte, Stephen. Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfish. Berkeley, Calif.: Creative Arts Book Company, 2001.

  Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. London: Kegan Paul, Trench Trubner and Co., 1928.

  Usinger, Robert L. Monograph of Cimicidae. College Park, Md.: Entomological Society of America, 1966.

  Walker, Kenneth. The Story of Blood. New York: Philosophical Library, 1962.

  Wilson, Edward O. The Diversity of Life. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1992.

  Woolley, Tyler A. Acarology—Mites and Human Welfare. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1988.

  NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES

  Altman, Mara. “Bed Bugs & Beyond.” Village Voice, December 13–19, 2006.

  Chan, Sewell. “Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask.” New York Times, October 15, 2006.

  Singer, Mark. “Night Visitors.” New Yorker, April 4, 2004.

  INTERNET ARTICLES

  BBC News. “King George III: Mad or Misunderstood,” 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/hi/health/388903.stm.

  “The Death of George Washington, 1799.” Eye Witness to History, 2001, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com.

  “George Washington: Eyewitness Account of His Death,” 2003, http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x01death_lear_g.htm.

  New York State, Department of State, Division of Licensing Services. “Manufacture, Repairer-Renovator or Rebuilder of New and/or Used Bedding and/or Retailer/Wholesaler of Used Bedding Application,” http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lcns/instructions/1427ins.htm.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To my beautiful wife, Janet, and son, Billy—together you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Thank you for your patience, love, and unwavering support.

  Very special thanks to my literary agent, the wonderful and wise Elaine Markson. At the Elaine Markson Agency, I am indebted to E
laine’s assistant, Gary Johnson, and I thank him for his advice and kindness.

  At Harmony, I was incredibly lucky to have John A. Glusman edit my first book. I am also indebted to his superb team of coworkers.

  To my dear friend and colleague, Patricia J. Wynne—my sincerest thanks and admiration, especially for your ability to bring my ideas to life with pen and ink and for urging me to “get another oar in the water.”

  I’ve been fortunate to have had several mentors in my educational and professional life. Most important, I am grateful to John W. Hermanson (Field of Zoology, Cornell University), who took a chance on me in 1990. As my graduate committee chairman, mentor, and friend, John not only taught me how to think like a scientist but also the value of figuring things out for yourself. At Cornell, I was guided by the talented tag team of John E. A. Bertram and Deedra McClearn—with a huge and welcome assist from James “Camuto Jim” Ryan (Hobart and William Smith College).

  At my favorite place in the world, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), bat biologist extraordinaire, Karl F. Koopman, was and will remain an inspiration to me and I am proud to have known him. Arthur M. Greenhall confirmed my initial hunch that “a vampire bat wasn’t a vampire bat wasn’t a vampire bat,” and in doing so this funny little New Yorker set me on a career path that would eventually lead to this book. Nancy B. Simmons has been an unwavering supporter, superb collaborator, and trusted friend. It is definitely good to know the Queen. Also at the AMNH, my “younger brother” Darrin Lunde and I have spent many hours deep in discussion (scientific and otherwise), generally with our friends Ollie, Big Nick, and Aurora. Darrin was integral in encouraging me to write this book as well as correcting some initial boo-boos. I’m looking forward to our upcoming collaboration on nature’s cannibals. Constant and welcome support is always provided by my colleagues and dear friends in the AMNH Mammalogy Department: Patricia Brunaur (goddess of all secretaries); Neil Duncan, Ross MacPhee, and Ruth O’Leary (for laughing at the jokes); Erica Pannen; Rob Voss; and Eileen West-wig. Very special thanks go to Mark Siddall and Louis Sorkin (Department of Invertebrates) for their time and for the wealth of information they provided me on leeches and bed bugs, respectively; and to Scott Schaefer (Ichthyology) for the candiru contacts. Thanks also to Mary DeJong (AMNH Library) for her help and kindness over the years, and to Mary Knight (for the support and for the great Dracula book).