104 



SOME INSECT PESTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.* 



BED-BUGS AND RED ANTS.t 

 By C. V. Riley. 



There is a peculiar propriety in considering these two household 

 pests in the same article, for it is a fact not generally known, and not, 

 I believe, previously published, that the character of the red ant is not 

 wholly bad. It has one redeeming trait, and that is that it will (although 

 perhaps under exceptional conditions) destroy bed-bugs. Has any one 

 ever known a house overrun with red ants in which bed-bugs were 

 common at the same time? I think not. One of my assistants, Mr. 

 Pergande, had an opportunity at Meridian, Miss., during the war, of 

 seeing an old building used as a barracks and filled with bed bugs, in- 

 vaded by countless numbers of red ants. Several ants would attack a 

 single full-grown bed-bug, pull off its legs and carry away the help- 

 less body. They penetrated the closest cracks of the rough beds and 

 dragged out old and young bugs and eggs. There is, then, some slight 

 consolation in having the ants about one's house, but with care and 

 cleanliness, especially at the North, there is no excuse for the occurrence 

 of either pest. 



THE BED BUG. 

 (Acanthia lectularia L.) 



I have occasionally met with a favored individual who had never 

 seen a bed-bug ; in fact a well-informed entomologist recently sent me 

 a specimen for name, indicating his non-familiarity with the species! 

 But such fortunate people are rare, and there are very few housekeep- 

 ers who have not, by accident perhaps, or through slovenly servants, 

 made the intimate acquaintance of the ubiquitous pest delineated here- 

 with. 



The bed-bug (Acanthia lectularia) has found its way wherever man 

 has pushed, and is too well known to need description. Its odor and 

 the effects of its bites are as universally known, and the word "bed- 

 buggy" has entered our literature as descriptive of a particular class 

 of odors. The original home of the pest is probably Southeastern 

 Europe and the Asiatic and African countries around the eastern end 

 of the Mediterranean. It was introduced into England at least as 

 early as 1503, and doubtless reached America soon after extensive set- 

 tlement. Certain English writers have endeavored to father the pest 



* On account of the inquiries that are continually made of the Entomologist for 

 remedies for our commoner household pests, we have decided to reprint, with slight 

 change or addition, certain articlesrecently contributed to Good Housekeeping (Spring- 

 field, Mass.)- 



tFroui Good Housekeeping, May 25, 1889. 



