go 
Parasitic Arthropods 
however, immediately following a thorough fumigation of his rooms, 
where nearly a pint of bed-bugs were collected. 
It is natural to suppose that an insect which throughout its whole- 
life is in such intimate relationship with man should play an important 
r 61 e in the transmission of disease. Yet comparatively little is-, 
definitely known regarding the importance of the bed-bug in this, 
respect. It has been shown that it is capable of transmitting the 
bubonic plague, and South American trypanosomiasis. Nuttall 
succeeded in transmitting European relapsing fever from mouse to- 
mouse by its bite. It has been claimed that Oriental sore, tubercu¬ 
losis, and even syphilis may be so carried. These phases of the 
subject will be considered later. 
The sources of infestation are many, and the invasion of a house 
is not necessarily due to neglect, though the continued presence of 
the pests is quite another matter. In apartments and closely placed 
houses they are known to invade new quarters by migration. They 
are frequently to be met with in boat and sleeper berths, and even 
the plush seats of day coaches, whence a nucleus may be carried in 
baggage to residences. They may be brought in the laundry or 
in clothes of servants. 
Usually they are a great scourge in frontier settlements and it is. 
generally believed that they live in nature under the bark of trees, 
in lumber, and under similar conditions. This belief is founded upon 
the common occurrence of bugs resembling the bed-bug, in such 
places. As a matter of fact, they are no relation to bed-bugs but 
belong to plant-feeding forms alone (fig. 19 c, d). 
It is also often stated that bed-bugs live in poultry houses, in 
swallows nests, and on bats, and that it is from these sources that they 
gain access to dwellings. These bugs are specifically distinct from 
the true bed-bug, but any of them may, rarely, invade houses. 
Moreover, chicken houses are sometimes thoroughly infested with 
the true Cimex lectularius. 
Control measures consist in the use of iron bedsteads and the 
reduction of hiding places for the bugs. If the infestation is slight 
they may be exterminated by a vigilant and systematic hunt, and 
by squirting gasoline or alcohol into cracks and crevices of the beds, 
and furniture. Fumigation must be resorted to in more general 
infestations. 
The simplest and safest method of fumigation is by the use of 
flowers of sulphur at the rate of two pounds to each one thousand 
