116 



HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



could be found in the bed although they were abundant 

 about the floors of the room. This is a very interesting 

 note and if the observations and conclusions of the cor- 

 respondent were correct, there is some ground for worry in 

 connection with these bird "bedbugs." 



A bug very similar to 

 the bedbug is also found 

 in pigeon cotes and an- 

 other in the nests of the 

 English martin. 



The true bedbug does, 

 however, occur in poultry 

 houses. It has been found 

 that bedbugs breed in the 

 houses and attack the 

 chickens at night, causing 

 considerable injury. 



In certain parts of the 

 West, the older inhabit- 

 ants, at least, believe that 

 the bedbug lives on dead 

 or dying cottonwood trees 

 beneath the bark and that 

 they will surely be found 

 in houses built of cotton- 

 wood logs. The early immature stages of another bug 

 belonging to the genus Aradus (Fig. 36) are often found 

 under the bark of cottonwood trees. In these immature 

 stages this insect has no developed wings and greatly 

 resembles a bedbug and is, therefore, mistaken for the 

 latter. In this way, probably, the misconception has 

 arisen that bedbugs live out-of-doors on trees. 



FIG. 36. Nymph of a species of 

 Aradus, much enlarged. 



