52 BED-BUGS AND FLOWER-BUGS. 
in such beds or-rooms. If we paint the cracks in a bed-stead or 
the wall, the ends of the slats, and all other suspected places, with 
one ounce corrosive sublimate dissolved in a half pint of alcohol 
and one-fourth pint of oil of turpentine, we have an excellent 
remedy. All remedies are best applied in early spring, so as to 
kill all the old hibernating females before they have deposited 
eggs. 
While travelling it is well to remember that bed-bugs are 
active only during the night and that they abhor light. So, if 
forced to sleep. in a bed suspected of containing such unwelcome 
inhabitants, it is wise to permit the lamp to burn all night. 
Bugs, very similar to bed-bugs, attack chickens, pigeons, 
swallows and bats. Those found in the nests of swallows not in- 
frequently reach the inside of houses against which these bene- 
ficial birds have built their clay nests. Such bugs, Figs. 42 and 
43, very closely resemble the genuine bed-bugs, yet are quite dif- 
ferent when studied in detail; they are much smaller, darker, 
and can not exist for any length of time away from their proper 
home, the nest of the swallow, where they are sometimes exceed- 
ingly numerous. ‘The illustration shows the eggs, young, and 
adult of this species (Acanthia hirundinis Senyns). 
Since the above account was written, another species of true 
bed-bugs was found in a large school building in the western part 
of the state. Here these insects became very annoying during 
winter, and especially near the warm steam-pipes; later they 
invaded all the rooms. It is a strange fact that an insect, usually 
dormant at that time, and certainly not active during the day, 
should so change its habits as to become a veritable trouble in 
mid-winter, annoying students and teachers in broad daylight. 
This species is much smaller, and resembles the one found in 
swallow nests so closely that it may be identical with it. In deal- 
ing with such a pest it is always wise to become familiar with 
as many remedies as are known, and for this reason the following 
is quoted from Prof. Comstock: 
“The means commonly employed to destroy this pest is to 
wet the cracks of the bedstead and other places in which it 
hides with corrosive sublimate dissolved in alcohol. This is sold 
by druggists under the name of bed-bug poison. As this sub- 
stance is a virulent poison, it should be used with great care. A 
