78 GRASSHOPPERS AND OTHER INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1911 AND 1912. 



shared by many others of this order, which odor is always indicative 

 of their presence, even if one cannot see them. Personally the 

 writer believes the odor of carbolic acid in a bed room to be quite as 

 offensive as the bedbug smell, for the former odor advertises the 

 fact that bugs are or have been present, and at once fills the guest 

 with alarm, whereas in its absence he might remain peaceful in 

 imagined security until he retired for the night. 



It is believed that these bugs must at times get at least some 

 nourishment from the moisture in newly felled logs, used while 

 green in building log houses, but it must be borne in mind that there 

 are bugs closely resembling bedbugs, and frequently believed to be 

 the same, and yet not the real bedbug, found in cottonwood logs. 

 So firm is this belief that the writer has had Westerners (Montana 

 and Dakota residents) declare that they were absolutely sure of the 

 identity of the bugs, and dared him to prove to the contrary. These 

 insects, while quite close resembling the bedbug, belong to a differ- 

 ent genus and species. Another species commonly taken for a genu- 

 ine bedbug occurs sometimes in the nest of barn sw^allows, another 

 on bats, or rather, where these animals "roost." According to Mar- 

 latt, species closely allied to the real bedbug, but not the same 

 species, occur in England, one in pigeon lofts, another in martin 

 nests, and the third in locations frequented by bats. 



Remedies and Methods of Prevention. The old proverb, "an 



ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," is applicable here. 

 A housekeeper, either in a private house, or in a hotel, lodging 

 house, or boarding- house, should be extremely careful not to have 

 any brought into the house, or at least, if suspecting their en- 

 trance, she should make heroic efforts immediately, before they be- 

 come numerous, to eradicate them. Wooden bedsteds should be 

 dispensed with in houses likely to be subject to bedbugs, and metal 

 ones substituted. 



Once well established in a house they are very hard to eliminate. 

 This is particularly true, for obvious reasons, if a flat is infested. 

 Fumigation with formaldehyde is hardly to be regarded as satisfac- 

 tory. The same might be said of burning sulphur candles, though 

 the latter, barring the unavoidable tendency to tarnish metal noted 

 in the use of sulphur will, if used at sufficient strength, and for a 

 long enough period, kill most or all of the bugs which are reached. 

 Since some may not have come in contact with the sulphur fumes, 

 and since the eggs may not have been destroyed by the first treat- 

 ment, a second or third application would be necessary in bad cases 



