Part 1

Transcriber Note

Text emphasis denoted as Italics and =Bold=.

=THE BEDBUG=

C. L. MARLATT

Entomologist and Assistant Chief

FARMERS' BULLETIN 754

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

A strenuous struggle, a vigorous campaign, is before any housewife who is called upon to dispute the occupancy of her home with that persistent pest unfavorably known as the bedbug, who, gorged with the blood of his victim, lieth up in his lair from daylight to candlelight, only to swoop down upon his helpless sleeping prey during the midnight watches.

Even a flood of gas or electric light will not protect the human host, for the stress of hunger will cause the bedbug to emerge from its place of concealment in a well-lighted room at night, and even attack, voraciously, in broad daylight, if long without food.

Certain natural enemies of this pest are to be found in our homes, but they are almost as unwelcome to the housewife as the bedbug itself, and, besides, furnish little, if any, effective control.

There are remedies--many of the most effective of which are the old-fashioned household remedies, some are preparations recently put on the market by their manufacturers, while others are fumigants, requiring more than common care and more than ordinary intelligence in their use, as the gases are deadly poisons.

This bulletin tells all about them--but the main factor of success is eternal vigilance.

Washington, D. C.

Issued October 14, 1916 Revised January, 1918 Slightly revised August, 1934

=THE BEDBUG=

Cimex lectularius L.; order Hemiptera, suborder Heteroptera, family Cimicidae.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Its presence explained 3

Origin; common names; distribution 4

Varieties and related insects 5

General characteristics 5

The "buggy" odor 6

Habits and life history 6

Food and longevity 9

Influence of temperature 10

The bite of the bedbug 11

The bedbug and human diseases 11