90 Parasitic Arthropods 



however, immediately following a thorough fiimigation of his rooms,, 

 where nearly a pint of bed-bugs were collected. 



It is natural to suppose that an insect which throughout its whole 

 life is in such intimate relationship with man should play an important 

 r61e in the transmission of disease. Yet comparatively little is- 

 definitely known regarding the importance of the bed-bug in this, 

 respect. It has been shown that it is capable of transmitting the 

 bubonic plague, and South American trypanosomiasis. Nuttall 

 succeeded in transmitting European relapsing fever from mouse to- 

 mouse by its bite. It has been claimed that Oriental sore, tubercu- 

 losis, and even syphilis may be so carried. These phases of the 

 subject will be considered later. 



The sources of infestation are many, and the invasion of a house 

 is not necessarily due to neglect, though the continued presence of 

 the pests is quite another matter. In apartments and closely placed 

 houses they are known to invade new quarters by migration. They 

 are frequently to be met with in boat and sleeper berths, and even 

 the plush seats of day coaches, whence a nucleus may be carried in 

 baggage to residences. They may be brought in the laundry or 

 in clothes of servants. 



Usually they are a great scourge in frontier settlements and it is 

 generally believed that they live in nature under the bark of trees, 

 in liunber, and under similar conditions. This belief is founded upon 

 the common occurrence of bugs resembling the bed-bug, in such 

 places. As a matter of fact, they are no relation to bed-bugs but 

 belong to plant -feeding forms alone (fig. 19 c, d). 



It is also often stated that bed-bugs live in poultry houses, in 

 swallows nests, and on bats, and that it is from these sources that they 

 gain access to dwellings. These bugs are specifically distinct from 

 the true bed-bug, but any of them may, rarely, invade houses. 

 Moreover, chicken houses are sometimes thoroughly infested with 

 the true Cimex lectularius. 



Control measures consist in the use of iron bedsteads and the 

 reduction of hiding places for the bugs. If the infestation is slight 

 they may be exterminated by a vigilant and systematic hunt, and 

 by squirting gasoline or alcohol into cracks and crevices of the beds, 

 and furniture. Fumigation must be resorted to in more general 

 infestations. 



The simplest and safest method of ftmiigation is by the use of 

 flowers of sulphur at the rate' of two pounds to each one thousand 



