So I have apparently lied for here I have for your amusement, whether you want to or not, Bacot’s outhouse.
Bacot, A.W. (1914). The influence of temperature, submersion and burial on the survival of eggs and larvae of Cimex lectularius. Bull. Ent. Res. 5, 111-17
First of all, why was Bacot burying bed bug eggs in sand, plaster and what not? Actually this is very cool; they asked him:
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.
I really have to bet that this is indeed the source of the universally cited 18 months, no? Check it out:
Moderate conditions; after feeding. After a single meal one newly hatched bug out of three lived for 270 days; while, out of 30 immature bugs in various stages of development, 7 were living and able to feed after a fast of 18 months. In this case the box in which they were confined was kept in an outhouse.
Emphasis added.
I know what you’re thinking because that is what I was thinking, but he describes the box as a glass-bottomed entomological box within another box. (?)
Anyway, here’s a bit more, I know you like mortality tables like I do:
Survival of unfed bed bug first instars (Bacot, 1914)
Oh yeah, the chilling, thawing, rechilling? That’s a reference to newly hatched bugs subjected to temperatures of 28dF-32dF. Also he observed that:
When subjected to cold, moist air after a full meal they are liable to a heavy or even total mortality—probably in consequence of humidity rather than cold.
These pages may be of related interest: