Notes on the Food of Reptiles With Special Reference to Their Possible Control of Cone-Nosed Bugs

Abstract

The writer has recently recorded (Wood, 1944) the reptiles found inside wood rat (Neotoma spp.) houses following surveys (Wood and Wood, 1938; Wood, 1942, 1943) of these dens for cone-nosed vectors (Triatoma spp. ) of Chagas' disease in south- western United States. <br /><br />Lizards are known to eat many kinds of insects and experimental tests reported here show that they will feed upon Triatoma. Some of the stomachs of the lizards collected from wood rat houses have been examined for the presence of cone-nosed bugs and the results recorded below.