34 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



growth. Dr. Packard, in his Guide to the Study of Insects, says 

 that bed-bugs may be destroyed by " a preparation consisting of 

 thirty parts of unpurified, cheap petroleum, mixed with a thousand 

 parts of water" ; and in the Popular Science News was published 



the following formula for 

 a bed-bug poison : Into one 

 half pint of alcohol put one 

 ounce of camphor, with 

 one ounce of pulverized sal 

 ammoniac and one ounce 

 of corrosive sublimate ; to 

 this add one half pint of 

 spirits of turpentine and 

 shake well before using. 

 These solutions may be ap- 

 plied around the cracks 



Fig. 4.-Bed-Bug. a, young; 5, adult (after Kiley), both an( J crev iceS of a bedstead; 



C'liltir^cd. 



benzine, too, may be used 

 with good effect, and boiling water will destroy them, but the best 

 preventive is perfect cleanliness. Curiously enough, they live 

 parasitic upon domestic birds. 



Flea (Pulex cams). — The fleas, although having no wings, have 

 until lately been classed with the flies (Diptera), but are now 

 placed by many writers in an order by themselves, the Aphanip- 

 tera. During the past 

 summer and fall there 

 has been considerable 

 annoyance caused in 

 and around Boston by 

 this troublesome in- 

 sect, and owing to its 

 habit of attacking 

 man it was supposed 

 to be the true human 

 flea, but a letter of in- 

 quiry on the subject, 

 addressed to an emi- 

 nent entomologist brought the following reply : " So far as I 

 know, we do not have the human flea in North America, and 

 ours is Pulex canis, the dog and cat flea. It seems to breed in 

 sandy cellars and such places at certain seasons." 



The eggs of this flea are laid on the dog or cat, and, being 

 sticky, adhere to the hair until almost ready fo hatch, when they 

 fall to the ground. These eggs are very small, white, and oblong, 

 and but eight or ten are laid by one female. 



The young larvse are hatched in about a week, and their growth 



Fig. 5.— Flea, (much enlarged). 



