8 
THE BEDBUG. 
might perhaps he practicable at least in the case of summer houses in 
the North which are left untenanted in the whiter. 
“The maintaining of high temperatures may be an even more 
efficient method of control. The activity of the bedbug is at its 
greatest between 60° and 70° to 75°. As indicated elsewhere, in a 
temperature of 96° to 100° F., accompanied with a high degree of 
humidity, newly hatched bedbugs perish within a few days, and, if this 
temperature is raised to 113° F., in a few minutes. 4 A temperature of 
113° will also destroy the eggs, and with these higher temperatures 
the item of humidity is not apparently important. 
* Editorial note. —An account of successful use of live steam to eradicate bedbugs in bunkhouses, as 
practiced by a lumber company in Oregon, was published in Public Health Reports, Nov. 28, 1919, pp. 
2713-2714. In that instance steam pipes were tapped, after closing all doors and windows, and a tem¬ 
perature of 160° F. was held for approximately 3 hours. The officials of the company stated that 2 months 
after the steaming no signs of bedbugs had been found. 
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