HEMIPTERA. 159 
Whatever its foundation, there is a widespread belief that birds and 
bats carry bed-bugs from place to place, and considering the suddenness 
with which they appear in new buildings and sometimes in buildings 
never used for dwellings, it seems hard to otherwise account for their 
appearance. Still, to those fa- 
miliar with the habits of the 
bed-bug and its opportunities 
for transportation, there will be 
no insuperable difficulty in ac- 
counting for all such appear- 
ances. 
Another impression seems to 
be that bed-bugs occur in the 
woods and under bark. A foot- Mite cei fen 
note in Westwood’s Introduc- DN ace 
tion (Vol. I, p- 475) reads: Fic. 89.—Acanthia lectularia: head and prothorax— 
much enlarged, showing form and clothing (origi- 
Southall states that its first ap- nal). 
pearance took place after the great 
fire in 1666. ‘‘ Learned men,” says he, ‘‘united in thinking they were imported with 
the new deal timber, as the bugs were naturally fond of turpentine woods.” — It is 
certain that they swarm in the American timber employed in the construction of 
new houses; and it is said that they feed upon the sap of that wood. 
We fail to find, however, any authentic record of such occurrence 
from personal observation, and since we have never met it in collecting 
under the best conditions for observing it we are inclined to think that 
the impression is due entirely to other insects closely resembling the 
bed-bug having been mistaken for it. In 1839 Mr, Leonard Jenyns 
published a paper in the Annals of Natural History (Vol. 5, pp. 241-244) 
on three undescribed species of the genus Cimex, closely related to 
the common bed-bug (C. columbarius, hirundinis, pipistrelli). These 
are stated to infest, respectively, the pigeon, the swallow, and the bat. 
The occurrence of any of these but hirundinis has not yet been re- 
corded in the United States, although, for reasons already stated, they 
might fail to be recorded even were they fairly common. 
PREVENTION AND REMEDY. 
Cleanliness and the application of the common remedies, such as ben- 
zine, corrosive sublimate, and hot water will usually suflice to keep. 
these pests reduced in ordinary dwellings, but in large buildings more 
general measures may sometimes be necessary, and in such cases there 
is probably nothing more effectual, when it can be done, than thorough 
fumigation with sulphur, brimstone, or perhaps bisulphide of carbon. 
“T have known a house which had long stood empty, and yet 
swarmed with them, thoroughly cleansed by.fumigation with brim- 
stone” (Westwood). 
We know personally of an instance where a large building, badly 
