38 PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



of value. The great desideratum, however, iu a case of this kind, is a 

 daily inspection of beds and bedding and of all crevices and locations 

 about the premises where these vermin may have gone for conceal- 

 ment. A vigorous campaign should, in the course of a week or so at 

 the outside, result in the extermination of this very obnoxious and 

 embarrassing pest. In the case of rooms containing books or wliere 

 liquid applications are inadvisable, a thorough fumigation with brim- 

 stone is, on the authority of Dr. J. A. Lintner, Kew York State ento- 

 mologist, an effective means of destruction. He says: 



Place in the center of the room a dish containing ahont 4 ounces of brimstone, 

 within a larger vessel, so that the possible overflowing of the burning mass may not 

 injure the carpet or set fire to the floor. After removing from the room all such 

 metallic surfaces as might be afi'ected by the fumes, close every aperture, even the 

 keyholes, and set fire to the brimstone. When four or five hours have elapsed, the 

 room maybe entered and the windows opened for a thorough airing. 



The fact that the bedbug has a verj^ effective enemy in the common 

 house cockroach has already been alluded to, and is particularly 

 described in the chapter on the cockroach. Another common insect 

 visitor in houses, and a very annoying one also to the careful house- 

 keeper, the little red ant [Monomorium pharaonis)^ is also known to be 

 a very active and effective enenij^ of the bedbug. Mr. Theo. Pergaude, 

 of this office, informs me that during the late war, when he was 

 with the Union army, he occupied at one time barracks at Meridian, 

 Miss., which had been abandoned by the Southern troops some 

 time before. The premises proved to be swarming with bedbugs; 

 but very shortly afterwards the little red house ant discovered the 

 presence of the bedbugs and came in in enormous numbers, and Mr. 

 Pergande witnessed the very interesting and pleasing sight of tlie bed- 

 bugs being dismembered or carried away bodily by these very minute 

 ants, many times smaller than the bugs which they were handling so 

 successfully. The result was that in a single day the bedbug nuisance 

 was completely abated. The liking of red ants for bedbugs is con- 

 firmed also by a correspondent writing from Florida (F. C. M. Boggess), 

 who goes so far as to heartily recommend the artificial introduction of 

 the ants to abate this bug nuisance. (Insect Life, Vol. YI, p. 340.) 

 Bedbugs and other household insects, however, are not of the sort 

 which it is convenient or profitable to turn over to their natural ene- 

 mies in the hope that eradication by this means will follow, and the 

 fact of their being i:)reyed upon by other insects furnishes no excuse to 

 the housekeeper for not instituting prompt remedial measures. 



THE BLOOD-SUCKING CONE-NOSE. 



(Conorhinus sanguisuga Lee.) 



Somewhat allied to the bedbug in habit is another true bug, Cono- 

 rhmus sanguisuga, bearing the very descriptive and appropriate popu- 

 lar name of the ''blood- sucking: cone-nose," or sometimes called the 



