280 INSECTS AND MAN 



the bed bug now is, he would be many times worse if 

 blessed with this additional aid to distribution. Many 

 other bugs are provided with two compound eyes 

 and two simple eyes; in the bed bug the latter are 

 wanting, sight being efficiently maintained by a pair of 

 somewhat protruding, black eyes, resembling minute 

 blackberries in appearance. 



The adult bed bug is about a quarter of an inch long, 

 obovate in outline, and very much flattened; its general 

 colour is rust-red, and the abdomen is tinged with black. 

 The most important part of its anatomy, from the human 

 point of view at any rate, is the rostrum or beak. This 

 organ, common to all bugs, is a piercing, suctorial organ 

 which, when out of use, can be bent downwards below 

 the head, but when required can be extended, as shown 

 in the figure. A similar organ is found in those very 

 common bugs, the green flies, and may easily be seen with 

 the aid of a pocket lens. On account of the structure of 

 the rostrum, and because there is no actual mouth, liquid 

 food can only be partaken of by the Rhynchota, and to 

 speak of the " bite " of a bed bug is hardly correct, though 

 it must be admitted that the operation is none the less 

 painful. 



The female bed bug is very prolific ; breeding is con- 

 tinuous throughout the year, unless lack of food or a low 

 winter temperature brings domestic affairs to a standstill. 

 It is erroneously believed that these insects hibernate 

 during the winter ; but this is not the case when conditions 

 are favourable, and in such circumstances several broods 

 are brought into the world in a year. The white, oval eggs 

 are deposited in batches of six to fifty, in various crevices 

 out of harm's way, and, at first, are covered with a sticky 

 liquid which causes them to adhere to the place where they 

 are laid. Round the free end of each egg is a projecting 

 ring, within which there is a lid or operculum, this the 

 young bug pushes up as it emerges, usually at the end of 



