(5 



Like its allies, the bedbug undergoes an incomplete metamorphosis, 

 the young being very similar to their parents in appearance, structure, 

 and habit. The eggs (fig. 2, d) are white oval objects, having a little 

 projecting rim around one edge, and are laid in batches of from one- 

 lialf dozen to fifty in cracks and crevices where the bugs go for conceal- 

 ment. The eggs hatch in a week or ten days, and the young escape by 

 pusiiing the lid within the projecting rim from the shell. At first the 

 larva' are yellowish white, nearly transparent, the brown color of the 

 more mature insect increasing with the later molts (fig. 8). During 

 the course of development the skin is shed five times, and with the last 

 molt the minute wing pads characteristic of the adult insect make their 

 appearance. A period of about eleven weeks has been supposed to be 

 necessary for the complete maturity of this insect, but we have found 

 this period subject to great variation, depending on warmth and food 

 supply. Breeding experiments conducted at this ofifice indicate, under 

 most favorable conditions, a period averaging eight days between molt- 

 ings and 1)etween the laying of the eggs and their hatching, giving about 

 seven weeks as the period from egg to adult insect. Some individuals 

 under the same conditions, however, will remain two to three weeks 

 between moltings ; and without food, as already shown, they may remain 

 unchanged for an indefinite time. Ordinarily but one meal is taken 

 between molts, so that each bedbug must puncture its host five times 

 before becoming mature and at least once afterwards before it again 

 develops eggs. Bedbugs are said to lay several batches of eggs during 

 the season and are extremely prolific, as occasionally realized by the 

 housekeeper, to her chagrin and embarrassment. 



REMEDIES. 



That the bedbug may be destroyed in houses by fumigating with 

 hydrocyanic-acid gas has been fully demonstrated during the last few 

 years. The gas penetrates every crevice in the house or room where 

 the bedbugs conceal themselves and has an immediate effectiveness 

 which gives it an important recommendation, especially when the 

 infestation is considerable or of long standing. The gas treatment for 

 houses is described in full by Dr. L. O. Howard in Circular 46 of this 

 series. 



The old remedies, which follow, are effective enough, though at a 

 greater cost of time and personal eft'ort, yet will often be of service for 

 slight infestation or where the employment of the more poisonous 

 cyanide is objected to or is impracticable. 



The bedbug, on account of its habits of concealment, is usually 

 beyond the reach of powders, and the ordinary insect powders, such as 

 pyrethrum, are of practically no avail against it. If iron or brass bed- 

 steads are used, the eradication of the insect is comparatively easy. 

 With large wooden bedsteads, furnishing many cracks and crevices into 



