HEMIPTERA 



379 



Fig.434.— Q'wex 

 lectularius. 



turnal insect, hiding by day in cracks of fumitiire and beneath various 



objects. Ordinarily it is found only in the dwellings of man; but it 



has been known to infest chicken houses. The means 



commonly employed to destroy this pest is to wet 



I^^^jT^ the cracks of the bedstead and other places in which 



"^^JK^ it hides with corrosive sublimate dissolved in alco- 

 m ^^ ^ hoi. This is sold by druggists under the name of 

 /^^^r \ bedbug poison. As this substance is a virulent 



poison, it should be used with great care. In case a 

 room is badly infested, it should be thoroughly 

 cleaned; fumigated with sulphur or with hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas; the walls repapered, kalsomined, 

 or whitewashed ; and the woodwork repainted. Detailed directions 

 for the use of gases against household insects are given by Herrick 

 ('14). In traveling, where one 

 is forced to lodge at places in- 

 fested by this insect or by fleas, 

 protection from them can be had 

 by sprinkling a small quantity 

 of pyrethrum powder between 

 the sheets of the bed on retiring. 

 The other members of this 

 family found in this country can 

 be distinguished from the com- 

 mon bedbug by means of the table 

 given above. 



Family POLYCTENID^ 



The Many-combed Bugs 



The Polyctenidas includes a 

 small number of very rare species 

 of bugs that are parasitic upon 

 bats. Until recently it was not 

 known to be represented in 

 America north of Mexico; but 

 Ferris ('19) records the finding 

 of one species, Hesperoctenes longi- 

 ceps, on the bat Eumops calif orni- 

 cus, near San Bernardino, Cali- 

 fornia. Figure 435 is a reduced 

 copy of a figure of this insect by 

 Ferris. The left half of the figure 

 represents the dorsal aspect of 

 this insect; the right half, the 

 ventral aspect. This carefully made figure renders a detailed 

 description unnecessary. The length of the body of the female is 4.5 

 mm.; of the male, 3.8 mm. 



Fig. 435. — Hesperoctenes longiceps: A, 

 female, left half dorsal, right half ven- 

 tral; B, posterior tarsus; C, anterior 

 tarsus; D, dorsal aspect of second an- 

 tennal segment, distal end upward. 

 (After Ferris.) 



