FLIES AND OTHER HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



27 



the animal with a mat or blanket upon which it may sleep. This 

 mat should be taken up frequently, shaken and the collected 

 dust beneath burned. This is a most effective method of pre- 

 venting the multiplication of these insects. An animal known to 

 be infested with fleas should have a quantity of fresh pyrethrum 

 powder rubbed into the hair. This will stupefy the pests^ causing 

 them to drop off and then they may be swept up and burned. Dust- 

 ing hosiery with pyrethum powder has been found very effective 

 in preventing flea bites in situations where such precautions are 

 advisable. 



It is frequently very difficult to deal with a bad infestation, due 

 to the impossibility of getting at the breeding places or destroying 

 all of the fleas at one time. Dr Henry Skinner of Philadelphia 

 states that he has successfully destroyed fleas in a badly infested 

 room, by sprinkling the floor liberally with about 5 pounds of 

 flake naphthalene and closing the room for 24 hours. The acrid 

 fumes destroyed the fleas and inflicted no material injury. There 

 is no danger in this procedure and we earnestly commend it to 

 those troubled by this pest. Fumigation with hydrocyanic acid 

 gas, described on page 48, where practical, is a most satisfactory 

 method of dealing with this condition. 



Bedbug hunter 



This species^ occasionally occurs about 

 houses and with one or more allies was 

 widely noticed by newspapers in 1898 

 under the name of kissing bug. This 

 brownish or "black insect is about ^ of 

 an inch long and has somewhat the same 

 shape as the malodorous squash bug of 

 the garden. It is beneficial, since it preys 

 upon insects. The grayish, sprawly legged 

 young are unusually interesting on account 

 of their being covered with particles of lint. 

 This gives them a nondescript appearance 

 and undoubtedly is of service in enabling 

 them to creep up unobserved upon their 

 prey. 



Fig. II Masked bedbug 

 hunter or kissing bug, from 

 above, about twice natural 

 size. (After Howard, U. S. 

 Dep't Agric. Div. Ent. Bui. 

 22. n. s. 1900) 



^Opsicoetus personatus Linn. 



