338 INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETATION 



and window frames received its dose. Gasoline hurts nothing in the 

 way of fabrics or papers, so it was safe to use it freely, and it is death 

 to every bug that it reaches. It does not destroy eggs with certainty, 

 however, therefore a second treatment is necessary about ten days or 

 two weeks after the first; but that need not be nearly so thorough. 

 Where no traces of eggs are seen on the furniture, no second applica- 

 tion need be made; but in all crevices into which it is impossible to 

 see, the application should be as well made as before. 



Where beds are likely to become infested, as in boarding-houses 

 and hotels, a very large measure of exemption may be secured by 

 using corrosive sublimate (bichloride of mercury) dissolved in 

 water and alcohol. Have the corrosive sublimate powdered say 

 two ounces and add a pint of water; let it stand a day or two, 

 shaking occasionally, until the water has taken up all the material 

 that it will dissolve. Add an equal quantity of alcohol, shake up 

 thoroughly and then apply with an oil can or pipette into every 

 crevice and crack in the bedstead. This is an intensely poisonous 

 mixture and should be used with that fact in mind. The combina- 

 tion of alcohol and water soaks into the wood or evaporates very 

 rapidly, leaving a thin powdering of very finely divided corrosive 

 sublimate as a covering in the crevices. This is death to every bug 

 that gets into it, and so a bed may be kept free for a long time. 

 It is as effective a killing agent as gasoline, but much more expensive 

 and, owing to its poisonous and corrosive nature, unsuited for free 

 use. It should never be used on brass or copper. 



Where rooms or entire buildings become badly infested more 

 heroic measures must be resorted to, and fumigation with sulphur 

 or hydrocyanic acid gas is indicated. The methods of doing this 

 are described elsewhere. 



Fleas. Fleas are not common household pests in New Jersey, 

 but occur often enough to make it convenient to know how to deal 

 with them. The species that specially attacks man is rarely, if ever, 

 found, the common cat and dog flea being almost invariably in 

 fault. This will get upon human beings and will bite readily, 

 especially about the ankles ; but it does not remain on the body for 

 any time after feeding, and does not find natural conditions on the 

 smooth, comparatively hairless skin of man. Cats and dogs are 

 infested by the same species, and when there is ready access to these 

 animals humans are rarely attacked. 



It sometimes happens that after a house has been shut up for a 

 few weeks during the summer it will be found thoroughly infested 

 with fleas when opened up again, and there are always a few very 

 unpleasant days until the insects are gotten rid of. 



Although fleas pass their adult life on the animals attacked 

 by them, and are thus loosely termed parasites in that stage, the 

 early or larval stages are passed in altogether different surroundings. 

 The female usually lays its eggs in the bed or lair of the animal 

 that it infests, and the larvae that hatch from them within two 

 or three days are very minute, white, worm-like creatures with- 

 out eyes or legs, that live on dry animal and vegetable matter of 



