16 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



not only upon the temperature, but also upon 



the amount of food. 



When bred artificially, and under good con- 

 ditions, the rate of progress can be " speeded 

 up " so that the eggs hatch out in eight days, 

 and every following moult takes place at 

 intervals of eight days, so that the period from 

 egg to adult can be run through in as short a 

 time as seven weeks. Unless fed after each 

 moult, the following moult is indefinitely post- 

 poned. Hence it follows that in the preliminary 

 stages bugs must bite their hosts five times 

 before the adult form emerges, and the adult 

 must, further, have a meal before she lays her 

 eggs. The eggs are deposited in batches of 

 from five to fifty in cracks and crevices, into 

 which the insects have retired for concealment. 



Bugs can, however, live a long time without 

 a meal. Cases are recorded in which they have 

 been kept alive for more than a year incarcerated 

 in a pill-box. When the pill-box was ultimately 

 opened, the bugs appeared to be as thin as oiled 

 paper, and so transparent that you could read 

 The Times* through them ; but even under 



* Only the larger print, such as the leading articles and 

 letters from admirals. 



