The Influence of Temperature, Submersion and Burial on the Survival of Eggs and Larvae of Cimex lectularius

Abstract

These experiments were performed in response to a question submitted to me from the Royal Sanitary Institute. The point at issue was the possibility of eggs of the common bed-bug, Cimex lectularius, surviving the process of house-destruction, when the plaster from old walls, on which eggs had been laid, was broken down and remixed with fresh mortar for making the partitions of rooms in new tenements; such survival having been given as an explanation for previously unoccupied houses being infested with bugs.