92 PARASITES OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



pecially likely to be their hosts, the usual quarters of poultry affording 

 an ideal harbor for such pests. 



Control. — Bedbugs may be easily carried upon clothing, therefore 

 puljlic conveyances and places where people of all sorts and conditions 

 of living may congregate, afford a common means for their dissemina- 

 tion. They are highly prolific, and the introduction of a single egg- 

 bearing female may be sufficient to start a colony of bedbugs within a 

 few months. 



Eradication is made somewhat difficult by the parasite's habit of 

 seeking hiding places during the day, therefore anything used for this 

 purpose must be of such a nature that it will penetrate into cracks, 

 crevices, joints of bedsteads, mattress seams, and all such places where 

 the gregarious insects are in the habit of assembling and depositing 

 their eggs. Powders, such as pyrethum, are of practically no value as 

 they are not sufficiently penetrating. One of the best remedies is kero- 

 sene, applied with a feather, or, better, with an ordinary machine oiler. 

 Benzene is as effectual and will volatilize more readily, but must be 

 used with great caution against ignition. A solution of corrosive sub- 

 limate in alcohol may also be used with good results. Fumigation is of 

 doubtful value, though flowers of sulphur, two pounds to each one 

 thousand cubic feet of room space, has been recommended for this pur- 

 pose. The sulphur should be placed in a heap in a pan, a depression 

 made in the top, and a small quantity of alcohol poured into this to 

 facilitate burning. The container should be placed in a larger pan and 

 surrounded by water as a precaution against fire. During fumigation 

 the room should, of course, be tightly closed. Fumigating with 

 formaldehyde gas is as useless against bedbugs as it is against other 

 insects. 



Whatever remedy may be applied, thoroughness is essential to success. 

 Beds and bedding should be inspected daily, and all places where the 

 bugs may have found a hiding place repeatedly treated. There will be 

 less difficulty if brass and iron bedsteads are used, the old-fashioned 

 wooden bedsteads furnishing many retreats into which the bugs can 

 force their flat, thin bodies. 



In infested chicken houses the parasites usually secrete themselves 

 around the ends of the roosts and in the nests. Their attack upon the 

 chickens at night results in a loss of flesh with reduced egg production. 

 In heavy infestation chickens will often die from emaciation and loss 

 of blood. If the propagation of the bugs in the chicken houses is not 

 checked, they may spread to nearby buildings to become a source of 

 annoyance to other live stock. 



Control measures in such cases consist in thoroughly renovating the 

 chicken house. Roosts in wooden fittings should be taken down, and 

 all loose lumber, useless boxes, straw, or other material affording hiding 



