82 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



generally back of the ears. They are laid in great numbers. 

 Remedies are, first of all, cleanliness and constant vigilance 

 where infection is possible. One thorough application of 

 oil of cajeput to the hair should prove fatal to both lice 

 and nits. Some care should be used not to flood the scalp 

 with the oil, as on tender skins it causes slight inflam- 

 mation and for delicate 

 skins of young children 

 the oil, mixed with an equal 

 amount of vaseline, will 

 prove as effective, with less 

 danger of causing irritation. 

 Larkspur and strong alco- 

 hol are other remedies. 



The body louse, Pedicu- 

 lus vestmienti, lives and 

 deposits its eggs in the 

 folds and seams of human 

 clothing. A female may 

 lay as many as 2500 eggs a month, and in warm weather 

 many more than this, which accounts for the sudden- 

 ness with which an outbreak may appear. The remedy is 

 thorough boiling of all infested clothing, preferably in salt 

 water. Treatment with carbon bisulphide, as described 

 for clothes moths, is also effective. 



Bedbugs, Cimex lectularius. — These are insects the long 

 association of which with man, extending as far back as his- 

 toric records, has resulted in development of a consider- 

 able degree of cunning. They bite during the sleep of 

 their victim and under cover of darkness, hiding during 

 daylight in cracks of old-fashioned wooden bedsteads, 



Fig. 33. Cimex Lectularius 



(7, adult female gorged with blood ; ^, ^%%. 



(After Marlatt) 



