Abstract
WHILE laboratory experiments have revealed new facts of insect biology, some have given results which have been interpreted in such a way as to cause confusion. Experiments measuring longevity have often given ambiguous results. At present, much work is being done on the survival of the bed-bug, Cimex lectularius, and as this insect is a domestic pest usually found in confined spaces, it appears at first sight admirable for laboratory study. Imprisonment among paper in a tube differs little from the conditions of the normal environment. Yet the times of survival found by various investigators1,2,3 working under similar climatic conditions are so different that it is, for example, quite impossible to say how long bugs must be left in an unoccupied house with no sources of food before they will all die from starvation.
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References
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Kemper, H., Z. Morph. u. Okol., 19, 160 (1930).
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MELLANBY, K. Activity and Insect Survival. Nature 141, 554 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141554a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141554a0
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