In actual practice these conditions would be found only in the most filthy and insanitary surroundings and would call for drastic measures to exterminate all vermin. It is, of course, possible that under unsettled conditions where sick and well are crowded together with no facilities for cleanliness, bedbugs might act as transmitters of septicemic diseases. Experience has shown that under such grossly insanitary conditions such insects as fleas and lice appear to be and are far more dangerous as carriers of disease. Special measures for their extermination should be taken. Added precautions for the examination of bedbugs under these conditions would probably not be justified by the results. Notwithstanding the minor rôle which must be assigned the bedbug as a carrier of disease, its presence is an offense against sanitary decency. Its bites are quite poisonous to some people and its odor is most disagreeable; and every effort should be made to keep all dwellings, hospitals, ships, and other premises free from these disgusting 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 parasitic 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 abdomen 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.