34 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



great rapidity, and can then evidently see better than by day. 

 They are capable of making long journeys even during the day? 

 and may thus migrate from house to house. They are, how- 

 ever, not restricted to human dwellings or to human blood, 

 for they often take up their residences in poultry houses and 

 yards, at times completely swarming in such, places. They 

 will also attack dogs and cats, and may live about the places 

 where those animals sleep. They have even been found in 

 the woods under the bark of dead trees. The same species, 

 apparently, also attacks bats, and may thus enter houses. In 

 fact, there are a great many ways in which they may get into 

 the best of houses, besides the well known method of adhering 

 to clothing, etc. It is, therefore, no disgrace to any house- 

 keeper that a bug should now and then be detected in the 

 house ; but the disgrace consists in allowing them to remain 

 undisturbed until their numbers increase to a great extent, as 

 they will most surely do if neglected. Many kinds of Hem- 

 iptera, like the squash-bug, etc., have the power of forming a 

 peculiar odorous secretion, which, from the similarity of the 

 odor, probably consists in part of formate of amylic ether ; 

 but in the bed-bug this odor is combined with others that 

 are far more disagreeable. 



The eggs are long-oval and white, and are laid in clusters 

 in the cracks, etc., about bedsteads and other places that they 

 frequent. The young hatch by forcing off one end of the egg- 

 shell like a lid. The young, when first hatched, are whitish 

 and translucent, and although having three legs and the gen- 

 eral features and habits of the old ones, they differ considerably 

 in form, being more louse-shaped. They have a broader and 

 more triangular head, and shorter and thicker antenna. 

 They cast their skins several times during growth, each time 

 looking a little more like the adult than before. It is said 

 that they require eleven weeks to -mature, but this probably 

 differs according to the temperature and food. They are, 

 however, lively and blood-thirsty from the first, and are well 

 able to look out for themselves. Their skill in finding a 

 sleeping person and reaching him is marvelous indeed. 



In ordinary cases there is no great difficulty in eradicating 



