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54
well sprayed with it, and when the bug gets on to the wet surface of the walls and
floors it crumples up and dies. It is too early, however, to say much about the
efficacy of this chemical because the effect of the vapour on the egg is not yet known
and we have not been able to try it during the breeding season. If the subsequent
experiments substantiate the earlier work, however, this is indeed a very valuable
chemical for ridding structures of bugs because of its power of bolting them from their
crevices in the same way that a ferret bolts rabbits.
After the rooms are opened the odour hangs about the house for a week or ten
days, but occupants do not find it unpleasant. So far it has only been used in
empty houses, prior to re-occupation by new tenants.
Bugs are to be found on the Council's housing estates, obviously brought from
old houses or by means of second-hand furniture, and the method of construction
of some of these houses renders their disinfestation extremely difficult. In consequence
of this the Council, at the end of the year, were considering whether it was
not possible to devise a scheme to ensure that no bug-infested articles were removed
from the old house. Such a scheme has been put into practice in Manchester and
other towns, and Mr. Couch, who is in charge of this work, was sent to Manchester
to study the scheme, on which he has prepared a report. At the end of the year the
report was still under consideration by the Public Health Committee.
As the Council are aware, the Ministry of Health set up a Committee to study
the question of bug infestation, one of the members of which was Mr. McKenny
Hughes, the entomologist, who has been very interested in this work in Woolwich
and who has been most helpful on many occasions.
It so happened that amongst some houses which the Council had purchased
for street widening purposes there was one which was infested with bugs and, at
Mr. McKenny Hughes' request, the Council allowed him to be present whilst its
demolition was taking place and instructed the Borough Engineer to give him every
facility for investigating bug infestation in this particular house. Mr. McKenny
Hughes subsequently reported as follows:—
"On Tuesday, 24th October, and on the three subsequent days, I visited
Woolwich for the purpose of watching the demolition of an old house known to be
verminous, with a view to examining the extent to which the bed-bug will penetrate
the fabric. After having pulled down large portions of plaster, wallpaper, timber
and so on, myself, I have come to the following conclusions, though these can only
be considered as tentative, being based on the demolition of one house only:—
(1) Bed-bugs do not penetrate far into the fabric unless travelling from one
house to another or remaining in a crack between the two so as to have the advantages
of feeding in either.