INSECTS AND WAR 17 



these starvation conditions they had managed to 

 produce offspring. De Geer kept several alive in 

 a sealed bottle for more than a year. This power 

 of existing without food may explain the fact 

 that vacated houses occasionally swarm with 

 bugs even when there have been no human 

 beings in the neighbourhood for many months. 



The effect of their bite varies in different 

 people. As a rule, the actual bite lasts for two 

 or three minutes before the insect is gorged, 

 and at first it is painless. But very soon the 

 bitten area begins to swell and to become red, 

 and at times a regular eruption ensues. The 

 irritation may be allayed by washing with menthol 

 or ammonia. 



The bed-bug has been accused of conveying 

 many diseases. How far it does this in nature 

 seems uncertain. But it certainly contains 

 certain pathogenic spirochaetes, and monkeys 

 have been infected in the laboratory with these. 



In India the bed-bug is under suspicion of 

 spreading kala-azar, or " black fever/' Other 

 insects probably convey similar diseases in 

 various parts of the tropics and sub-tropics, as 

 is indicated by the recent experiments of 



Professor Laveran and Dr. Franchini in Paris, 



B 



