Handbook of domestic science and household arts for use in elementary schools

Conditions in cities favor the introduction of this human parasite into the houses. It may be brought in on clothing out of crowded street or steam cars; it is apt to get into trunks and bags during travels; new furniture even may be infested; or the bug may migrate from some neighboring house. They have been seen to drop from the holes of canseated chairs. When a house is vacant or closed for a long time, and the food supply is thereby unfavorable in kind or quantity, they often travel along walls, water-pipes, roof gutters, etc. Apartments are often suddenly or continually overrun from such sources. However disgusting the subject may be, it is wisdom to know the possible, and how to remedy what we may not be able to prevent. The bedbug, unlike most insect pests, has been associated with man since the earliest times on record. The ancient peoples of Asia, the Romans, and other nations were familiar with it and its habits. In some parts of the United States it is known as the "chinch" bug, although this name belongs rather to an allied species which does not trouble the housewife. Other names are descriptive, as "red coats," " chintzes," etc. It probably, like the real " chinch ," which feeds upon vegetable juices, was once a strict vegetarian. Like other insects which have long lived a parasitic life, it has almost lost its wings, for which man should be thankful. It is much easier to fight a foe that must depend upon legs rather than wings to effect an escape. The metamorphosis is direct, the adult differing from the young chiefly in color and size. The body is mostly abdomen, which, unless distended with blood, is flat and scarcely thicker than a sheet of thin paper, so that there is seldom a space so narrow that it cannot be invaded by a bedbug. Its head is set in a hollow and protected by extended flaps. The antennae are jointed and hairy on both sides. It has the characteristic " buggy " odor, which aids in the detection of its whereabouts. The adults are reddish brown tinged with black ; the young, a yellow-white changing into brown. The eggs are minute, white, oval bodies with a low rim around one end. This end acts as a lid, and is pushed off by the escaping larva. Cimex is extremely prolific, laying several batches of eggs during one season, and the eggs hatch usually in about a week. With such a pest and such progeny " eternal vigilance is," indeed, " the price of liberty " to the housewife. Like the cockroach, the bedbug abhors light and conceals itself during the daytime. It naturally hibernates during the cold months, beginning active life with the return of warm weather ; yet in warm city houses it may remain active all winter. April is perhaps the month common to most parts of our country for the beginning of their breeding season. If blood is wanting, the bedbug may feast upon the paste on papered walls, and picture moulding often forms its quiet, dry, undisturbed breeding place. This shows that it can live on very scanty food, when the dust collected in cracks and crevices is sufficiently moist for its needs. Indeed, specimens have been kept in sealed vials in laboratories for more than a year.