Household Pests and Their Treatment. 79 



zine or a first-rate gasolene can be made to destroy moths. 

 When the fabrics themselves cannot be treated, it may in ex- 

 ceptional cases be desirable to fumigate with hydrocyanic acid 

 gas, as recommended for roach infestations. 



BEDBUGS. 



Several species are known to attack man in different coun- 

 tries. The one occurring in America seems to be Acanthia lee- 

 tidaria and has followed man from the Old World. It is sus- 

 pected of carrying several diseases such as dumdum fever or 

 Kala azar of the East, and relapsing fever. Its habits and life- 

 history are so well known as to render an account unnecessary. 

 The Indian bedbug is Acanthia hemipterus. Other species of 

 this country infest the bat and barn swallow, and when en- 

 countered about buildings have sometimes been mistaken for 

 the true bedbug. The latter is long-lived and may persist for 

 some time in deserted dwellings, but some cases supposed to be 

 of this sort are the result of mistakes in identifying the insect. 



The pest is especially likely to be troublesome in boarding 

 houses, hotels, dormitories and barracks because of the miscel- 

 laneous character of those occupying them. Places of this sort 

 require at least monthly inspections for such pests. The tidy 

 housekeeper generally knows how to get rid of bedbugs by the 

 use of coal-oil. They are most troublesome on wooden bed- 

 steads. Iron bedsteads afford fewer hiding places and are more 

 readily inspected. They are always to be preferred. 



In the case of badly neglected quarters in which the bugs 

 have become established in walls as well as beds it becomes 

 necessary to fumigate with hydrocyanic acid gas, as directed in 

 the section of this circular devoted to roaches. 



ROACHES. 



Three different species of these insects are found in dwell- 

 ings in Kentucky and may be the source of a good deal of an- 

 noyance to the householder. Two of them are importations from 

 foreign countries, the third is believed to have originated in 

 Ajnerica. Some additional roaches are found in our woods. 



