PARASITES OF ANIMA.LS ; 35 
these insects completely, if a proper amount of care is be- 
stowed in the way of keeping the house and beds clean and 
neat. The principal trouble arises from neglect on the part 
of housekeepers to examine the beds frequently, for, as al- 
ready intimated, no bed is sure to escape their attentions for 
any great length of time, especially in cities, where they may 
at any time walk in from some neighbor’s house for a friendly 
visit or morning call. 
When they are merely located in bedsteads, or bedding, there 
is no better way than to makea careful and thorough examina- 
tion of all cracks and corners, and when any are seen, a little 
benzine poured upon them will kill them instantly, and the 
benzine should be poured into all suspicious cracks, which 
cannot otherwise be reached. Scalding hot water thoroughly 
applied is also effectual, but is liable to injure the varnish of 
. furniture. One examination of a bed is seldom sufficient, for 
eggs that have escaped observation, may subsequently hatch. 
Therefore two or three searches, with benzine in hand, should 
be made at intervals of a week or ten days. The use of cor- 
' rosive sublimate and similar poisons is unnecessary and 
objectionable, for such preparations are not more dangerous 
to the bugs than to the persons who occupy the beds, and are 
less fatal, even when applied directly to the bugs, than ben- 
zine. When the bugs have also taken up their residence in 
the cracks and crevices in the walls of old houses, it is much 
more difficult to destroy them. If very bad, the house, when 
empty, may receive a thorough fumigation with burning sul- 
phur, which will generally prove very effectual. Hen-houses 
and other out-buildings may be thoroughly drenched with a_ 
mixture of crude petroleum and water, or with the solution 
of carbolic acid. 
Bed-bugs are extremely tenacious of life and have wonder- 
ful powers of fasting. They have been kept hermetically 
sealed in glass bottles for more than a year without any food, 
and were still lively and had a good appetite. 
PEDICULID&. 
_This family includes the ordinary lice of man and quadru- 
peds, which are furnished. witha sucking mouth. They are 
ICFOSO: 
