Memorandum on the bed-bug and how to deal with it / Ministry of Health.

Date:
[1935]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorandum on the bed-bug and how to deal with it / Ministry of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Note.—Various factors, such as climate, food supply and habitat, may cause the period of development of any stage in the life history (ege, nymph or adult) to vary enormously. II.—INDICATIONS OF THE PRESENCE OF BED-BUGS. The presence of Bed-bugs may often be detected by the smell which is invariably present when a room is heavily infested. It is a musty, sour, unpleasant smell which is easily recognised. Their presence may also be detected by the deposits of black excreta, which are in the form of individual small dark spots, and, if very numerous, often coalesce into larger black areas. Bed- bugs rarely deposit excreta on the surface on which they have been feeding, but wait until they return to, or near to, their normal hiding place. Hxcreta should be looked for on the walls, especially around nail holes, at the edges of cracks in the plaster and wood- work, and where the wallpaper is creased or loose. IV.—WHERE TO LOOK FOR BED-BUGS. When inspecting a dwelling for the presence of Bed-bugs atten- tion must be paid both to the building itself and to the furniture. Generally Bed-bugs are to be found in hiding-places near to the surface. - In buildings the chief sites of infestation are usually in or on the walls, the ceilings and floors being seldom as heavily infested. Bed-bugs. should be looked for :— , Behind wallpaper which has become detached, especially along the overlaps by the ae of the doors, ‘the mould- ings of the windows, etc. In any deep crack or groove in the woodwork itself and in the crevices of wooden partitions. Behind architraves of doors, window mouldings, picture rails, wood blocks of lighting fittings, and skirting boards, In cracks in plasterwork, in nail holes, or in the space behind partially flaked-off plaster, and in cracks in the mould- ings of the ceiling. Behind wooden battens used in connection with many types of sectional ceilings. In cracks in uncovered wooden beams. In the crevices between the floor boards, more especially where they cross the joists. Behind overmantels or other permanent fittings. 'In furniture special attention should be paid to the seams and leather “‘ buttons ’’ of stuffed mattresses, to the ends of wire mattresses, and to the jomts and hollow ornamental brasswork in ET {SOL ASN ESS RRR oF Sac EN pra ainsan® pidoca osc) q