INSECT PESTS OF THE HOUSE, 341 



were not immediately checked. In addition to the danger of the 

 supports giving way, there was reason for alarm in the fact that 

 they also destroy books and paper ; but in this case, fortunately, 

 the papers stored in the part of the ' State-Honse in which they 

 appeared were of little value. Measures were taken at the time 

 to prevent their devastating work, and it is hoped that they have 

 been exterminated ; but Dr. Hagen, in an article on the subject a 

 few years later, thought it not improbable that they had spread 

 farther, as nothing was done to prevent their entering other parts 

 of the building. 



These ants feed on rotten wood, living in old stumps of trees, 

 and sometimes in old fences, and Dr. Hagen suggested the remov- 

 ing of every old stump around buildings and in the vicinity of 

 cities, thus diminishing the number by depriving them of their 

 necessary food. Places kept moist by hot steam are particularly 

 favorable for the work of these little creatures ; and more or less 

 trouble was occasioned in Cambridgeport, at the telescope works 

 of Alvan Clark and Son, where a timber constantly moist from the 

 steam was honey-combed by them ; and some years ago a bridge 

 near Porter's Station in Cambridge was destroyed, probably from 

 the same cause. As many trains stopped under this bridge, it was 

 constantly moist from the steam of the locomotives. 



So far the insects mentioned are those that do direct injury 

 to our clothes, carpets,* food, books, etc., but there are still 

 others which frequent our houses and prove very annoying in 

 various ways ; and besides these there are numerous insects which 

 cause much trouble in collections of natural history, and in mu- 

 seums the utmost care must be exercised to prevent their attacks. 

 It is not often that these museum pests prove of much annoyance 

 in the house. I have found the larva of a beetle (Attagenus pellio) 

 in the sawdust of a doll's arm ; and the larva of another species 

 (Attagenus megatama) is sometimes found to have eaten the 

 feathers in pillows, and the short particles of the feathers become 

 so firmly fastened in the ticking by the repeated shakings of the 

 pillow that a fine, soft felting is made, resembling the fur of a 

 mole. 



Bed-Bug (Cimex lectularius) . — The eggs of the bed-bug are 

 white in color and oval in shape. The young differ but slightly 

 from the parent. The full-grown bug is wingless or possesses 

 rudimentary wings, is less than a quarter of an inch in length 

 and of a brown color. It is about eleven weeks in attaining its 



* A brief mention may be made of a fly {Sccnopinus pallipcs) whose habits are but little 

 known. The larva is a long, white worm living under carpets, upon which it is supposed to 

 feed, and it is also found in rotten wood, but as yet it has not appeared in numbers suffi- 

 ciently large to prove an annoyance in the house. The fuil-grown fly measures about a 

 quarter of an inch in length. 



