4 - 
»OoU-B THE BEDBUG. 3 
F W15V 
<2 dwellings, hospitals, ships, and other premises free from these dis- 
5 gusting insects. 
Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, United 
States Department of Agriculture, and consultant United States 
Public Health Service, has permitted the quotation of the following 
passages from Farmer’s Bulletin No. 754, by C. L. Marlatt, which 
gives an authoritative account of the habits, life history, and the 
means of control of these insects. 
“General Characteristics. 
“The bedbug belongs to the order Hemiptera, which includes the 
true bugs or piercing insects, characterized by possessing a piercing 
and sucking beak. The bedbug is to man what the chinch bug is 
to grains or the squash bug to cucurbs. Like nearly all the insects 
parasitic on animals, however, it is degraded structurally, its para¬ 
sitic nature and the slight necessity for extensive locomotion having 
resulted, after many ages doubtless, in the loss of wings and the 
assumption of a comparatively simple structure. Before feeding, the 
adult is much flattened, oval, and in color is rust red, with the abdo¬ 
men more or less tinged with black. When engorged, the body 
becomes much bloated and elongated and brightly colored from the 
ingested blood. The wings are represented by the merest rudiments, 
barely recognizable pads, and the simple eyes or ocelli of most other 
true bugs are lacking. The absence of wings is a most fortunate 
circumstance, since otherwise there would be no safety from it even 
for the most careful of housekeepers. Some slight variation in 
length of wing pads has been observed, but none with wings showing 
any considerable development has ever been found. 
“Habits and Life History. 
“•The bedbug is normally nocturnal in habits and displays a certain 
degree of wariness, caution, and intelligence in its efforts at conceal¬ 
ment during the day. Under the stress of hunger, however, it will 
emerge from its place of concealment in a well-lighted room at night, 
so that under such circumstances keeping the gas or electric light 
burning is not a complete protection. It has been known under 
similar conditions to attack human beings voraciously in broad 
daylight. It usually leaves its victim as soon as it has become 
engorged with blood and retires to its normal place of concealment, 
either in cracks in the bedstead, especially if the latter be one of the 
wooden variety, or behind wainscoting, or under loose wall paper; 
and in these and similar places it manifests its gregarious habit by 
collecting in masses. It thrives particularly in filthy apartments 
and in old houses which are full of cracks and crevices, in which it 
