208 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



the pests have returned. The following is a good account 

 of the manner in which one housekeeper finally got rid of 

 these pests : " My own experience with them began last 

 year. We moved to our present abode in April, and it was 

 not until every carpet had been put down and the house 

 settled that I was aware that we had such unwelcome 

 guests. I was not long in observing their habit of running 

 into any crack and crevice that presented itself, and also 

 running along the joints of the floors, and our warfare 

 against them was directed toward these joints. In the 

 closets we stopped up every nook on the walls ; every 

 crevice under the baseboards, and filled up the joints of 

 the floors ; then we laid down oil-cloth, and kept a plenti- 

 ful supply of camphor in the closets. I am happy to say 

 that we have had no trouble with them since so doing. 



"Fortunately, we had put paper under all the carpets, so 

 we felt that they were in a measure, at least, protected, 

 but I found them continually, just under the edges of the* 

 carpet. As far as possible, we filled up the crevices under 

 the baseboards and I used benzine plentifully all the sum- 

 mer, saturating the borders of the carpets every two weeks 

 and killing all I saw in the meantime. Last spring we 

 varnished the cracks of the floors, and in some cases, where 

 they were open, covered them with strips of thin muslin 

 stuck down with the varnish ; we again put paper under 

 the carpets, as we had found it such protection the previ- 

 ous year. I have found the various insect powders of no 

 use whatever when the insect is in the larval state: 

 whether or not it has any effect on the beetle I cannot say ; 

 but this I can state, that our unceasing warfare has 

 not been in vain, for I have, during the past summer, 

 seen only single ones where last year I found scores." 



