38 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



BODY PARASITES 

 Bedbug 



Cimex lectularius Limi. 



This pest is especially likely to be abundant in old houses where 

 cracks and crevices abound, and its ability to endure long fasts 

 enaibles it to maintain itself for considerable periods in uninhabited 

 houses, even though there be no mice or other animals upon which 

 it can prey. 



This insect has a habit of feeding to repletion and then seeking 

 shelter where it may remain 2 or 3 days. The oval white eggs are 

 deposited in cracks and crevices in batches of 6 fo 50 or thereabouts. 



Fig. 13 Bedbug: a, and b, adult females from above and below, gorged with blood; 

 c, and d, structural details. (After Marlatt, U. S. Dep't Agr. Div. Ent. Bui. 4. 

 n. s. 1896) 



The yellowish white, nearly transparent young hatch in a week or 

 10 days, and approximately ii weeks are necessary to complete 

 development, though this is probably greatly modified by the degree 

 of warmth and the abundance of food. It is said that ordinarily 

 only one meal is taken between each of the 5 molts preceding 

 maturity. The ability of these insects to live without food has an 

 important bearing on the prevalence and control of the pest. Newly 

 hatched bedbugs, those which have had no opportunity of feeding, 

 may live on an average 28.1 days, the maximum being 41, and the 

 minimum 17 days. Partly grown individuals captured and therefore 

 with no record as to previous feeding, lived from 17 to 60 days, 

 and fullgrown adults from 2 to 60 days.^^"^ Unfed bugs at tempera- 



95 Girault. Jour, Econ. Biol., 7:163-88. 1912. 



