114 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



LIFE HISTORY 



There are still several things to learn regarding points 

 in the life history of so common and so widely distributed 

 an insect as the bedbug. 



C. L. Marlatt in 1896 was the first to give the true life 

 history of the bedbug. Later, in 1905, A. A. Girault 

 contributed considerable data to the life history of this 

 insect. We are yet in the dark concerning the number of 

 eggs desposited by a single female and we do not know 

 positively how many generations there may be in a year. 



The eggs are white and oval in outline with a rim around 

 the free end and sculpturing over the shell. They are 

 laid in batches of varying numbers in cracks and crevices 

 in the bedsteads or other places in which the bedbugs 

 happen to be. The number of eggs deposited by a single 

 female is not known. Southall, Riley, and others have 

 made the common statement, probably not based on actual 

 observation, that each female lays about four batches of 

 fifty each during the season. Girault actually succeeded 

 in obtaining 111 eggs from one well-fed female between 

 June 17 and August 19. How many she had deposited 

 previous to confinement for the experiment he was, of 

 course, unable to say. Girault's experience with this one 

 bug indicates that the females may continue to lay eggs 

 at different periods throughout the breeding season and 

 that there is only one generation a year. 



The eggs hatch in six to ten days and the young bugs 

 or nymphs molt five times before they become adults. 

 When first hatched the nymphs are whitish in color, but 

 as soon as possible they feed, when the body becomes red 

 or dark purplish, due to the engorgement of blood. As 



