FUMIGATION 383 



of South America, belonging to the family Aradidae. It is a 

 large broad bug which frequents houses and bites severely. 



All the species of bugs which infest houses may be destroyed 

 by the fumigation methods described below, but all but the bed- 

 bugs must be kept out by screening, since they are not handi- 

 capped in their migrations by degeneration of the wings. 



Remedies and Prevention 



Prevention of " bugginess," at least in the case of bedbugs, 

 consists chiefly in good housekeeping, but occasional temporary 

 infestations are likely to occur in almost any inhabited building. 

 A number of remedies for bugs have been advocated, of which 

 the best is undoubtedl}- fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas, 

 as described below. Sulphur is also valuable for fumigation but 

 is not so harmless to household goods as is hydrocyanic acid gas. 

 When the infested parts of houses or rooms can be easily located, 

 good remedies are kerosene, gasolene, turpentine or other coal-tar 

 products painted into all the infested cracks and crevices, es- 

 pecially in the woodwork of beds. An effective remedy of this 

 nature is a mixture of one ounce corrosive sublimate, two cups 

 alcohol, one-half cup turpentine. These substances should be 

 applied several times at intervals of a week in order to destroy 

 newly hatched bugs. Some housekeepers take infested beds 

 apart and pour boiling water into the " buggy " parts, thus 

 effectually killing both bugs and eggs in the bed but this does 

 nothing against bugs which may hide elsewhere than in the bed. 

 Bedbugs have a number of natural enemies, among which may 

 be mentioned especially cockroaches, red ants and large preda- 

 ceous bugs, but all of these are pests themselves, and are, there- 

 fore, hardly to be encouraged as bedbug hunters, efficient as they 

 might be in this capacity. 



Fumigation 



Hydrocyanic Acid Gas. — Of the remedies for bugs mentioned 

 above, fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas is the most effective. 

 This gas can be used with good success for fumigation of houses, 

 mills, granaries, greenhouses or any other closed structure, 

 against any kind of insect pest. But since the gas is extremely 



