4 
THE BEDBUG. 
can conceal itself beyond easy reach. As just noted, the old- 
fashioned, heavy, wooden-slatted bedsteads afford especially favorable 
situations for the concealment and multiplication of this insect, 
and the general use in later years of iron and brass bedsteads has very 
greatly facilitated its eradication. Such beds, however, do not insure 
safety, as the insects are able to find places of concealment even about 
such beds, or get to them readily from their other hiding places. 
“The bedbug takes from 5 to 10 minutes to become bloated with 
blood, and then retires to its place of concealment for 6 to 10 days 
for the quiet digestion of its enormous meal, and for subsequent 
molting, or reproduction if in the adult stage.” 
“The eggs hatch in a week or 10 days in the hot weather of mid¬ 
summer, but cold may lengthen or even double this incubation 
period or check development altogether. The young escape by push¬ 
ing up the lid-like top with its projecting rim. When first emerged, 
they are yellowish white and nearly transparent, the brown color of 
the more mature insect increasing with the later molts.” 
“Unfavorable conditions of temperature and food will necessarily 
result in great variation in the number of generations annually and 
in the rate of multiplication, but allowing for reasonable checks on 
development, there may be at least four successive broods in a year 
in houses kept well heated in winter.” 
“Food and Longevity. 
“Under normal conditions the food of the common bedbug is 
obtained from human beings only, and no other unforced feeding 
habit has been reported. It is easily possible, however, to force the 
bedbug to feed on mice, rats, birds, etc., and probably it may do so 
occasionally in nature in the absence of its normal host. The 
abundance of this insect in houses which have long been untenanted 
may occasionally be accounted for by such other sources of food;but 
probably normally such infestation can be explained by the natural 
longevity of the insect and its ability to survive for practically a 
year, and perhaps more, without food.” 
“Influence of Temperature. 
“As a messmate of human beings in dwelling houses, the bedbug is 
normally protected from extreme cold and is known to be an 
abundant and serious pest far north. In fact, it is often more 
troublesome in north temperate latitudes than farther south. This 
may be accounted for partly by the fact that the bedbug is very 
sensitive to high temperatures, and a temperature of 96° to 100° F. 
or more, accompanied with a fairly high degree of humidity, results 
in the death of large numbers of the bugs. The mature or partly 
mature bedbugs can stand comparatively low temperatures, even 
