PARASITES OF ANIMA.LS 35 



these insects completely, if a proper amount of care is be- 

 stowed in the way of keeping the house and beds clean and 

 neat. The principal trouble arises from neglect on the part 

 of housekeepers to examine the beds frequently, for, as al- 

 ready intimated, no bed is sure to escape their attentions for 

 any great length of time, especially in cities, where they may 

 at any time walk in from some neighbor's house for a friendly 

 visit or morning call. 



When they are merely located in bedsteads, or bedding, there 

 is no better way than to make a careful and thorough examina- 

 tion of all cracks and corners, and when any are seen, a little 

 benzine poured upon them will kill them instantly, and the 

 benzine should be poured into all suspicious cracks, which 

 cannot otherwise be reached. Scalding hot water thoroughly 

 applied is also effectual, but is liable to injure the varnish of 

 furniture. One examination of a bed is seldom sufficient, for 

 eggs that have escaped observation, may subsequently hatch. 

 Therefore two or three searches, with benzine in hand, should 

 be made at intervals of a week or ten days. The use of cor- 

 rosive sublimate and similar poisons is unnecessary and 

 objectionable, for such preparations are not more dangerous 

 to the bugs than to the persons who occupy the beds, and are 

 less fatal, even when applied directly to the bugs, than ben- 

 zine. When the bugs have also taken up their residence in 

 the cracks and crevices in-the walls of old houses, it is much 

 more difficult to destroy them. If very bad, the house, when 

 empty, may receive a thorough fumigation with burning sul- 

 phur, which will generally prove very effectual. Hen-houses 

 and other out-buildings may be thoroughly drenched with a 

 mixture of crude petroleum and water, or with the solution 

 of carbolic acid. 



Bed-bugs are extremely tenacious of life and have wonder- 

 ful powers of fasting. They have been kept hermetically 

 sealed in glass bottles for more than a year without any food, 

 and were still lively and had a good appetite. 



PEDICULID^. 



This family includes the ordinary lice of man and quadru^ 

 peds, which are furnished with a sucking mouth. They are 



