THE COMMON BEDBUG 111 



in on the weekly laundry and has seen them hiding away 

 among the crevices of the clothes basket. In several in- 

 stances, the writer has seen these insects on the white 

 spread of a bed on which the clean clothes have been 

 laid by the laundress. This is a source of infestation 

 that has to be constantly watched. 



If the members of a family travel a great deal they are 

 liable to bring the pest home in their trunks and hand- 

 bags. Guests that have been traveling and stopping at 

 various hotels often unwittingly become the source of 

 infestation by bringing the pest in their baggage. 



In towns and cities, where houses are built close to- 

 gether, the bedbug will sometimes actually migrate from 

 one house to another along walls and pipes. This is 

 especially liable to happen where one house has been vacant 

 for some time and the parasites have been deprived of food. 

 Marlatt says the insect "will often continue to come from 

 an adjoining house, sometimes for a period of several 

 months, gaining entrance daily." 



THE FOOD OF THE BEDBUG 



Apparently the bedbug naturally chooses human blood 

 in preference to all other food. In fact, the author is 

 unable to find conclusive evidence that the bedbug will 

 accept any other substance than blood as food. Some 

 writers maintain, however, that this insect can subsist 

 for a time upon the juices it may be able to extract from 

 moist wood or from moist accumulations of dirt in cracks 

 and crevices of floors and walls. Indeed, for that matter, 

 DeGeer kept bedbugs alive and active for a year in a tight 

 box without any food at all. Other investigators have 



