128 Cockroaches, Locusts, Grasshoppers, and Crickets 



its range north from its native region in Mexico and Central America. The 

 Australian roach, Periplaneta australasia, resembles P. americana, but is 

 darker in ground color, a quarter of an inch shorter, and has a conspicuous 

 yellow submarginal band running around the shield-shaped pronotum. 

 Each fore wing has also a strong yellow tapering bar in the basal part of 

 the costal region. It came originally from the Australian Pacific region, 

 and is now spread widely over the world, being common in this country 

 in Florida and other southern states. The most abundant and destruc- 

 tive house-roach in the eastern states is the small German cockroach, 

 Ectobia germanica (Fig. 158), about half an inch long, and pale yellowish 

 brownish with a pair of distinct black longitudinal stripes on the pro- 



FIG. 158. FIG. 159. FIG. 160. 



FIG. 158. The croton-bug, or German cockroach, Ectobia germanica. (Twice natural 



size.) 

 FIG. 159. The black beetle, or Oriental cockroach, Periplaneta orientalis. (One and 



one-half times natural size.) 

 FIG. 1 60. The common wood cockroach, Ischnoptera pennsylvanica. (After Lugger; 



natural size indicated by line.) 



notum. This roach is often called croton-bug, from its intimate asso- 

 ciation with the pipes of New York City's Croton-water system. It is an 

 importation from Europe, where it is especially abundant in Germany. Its 

 real nativity is unknown, but it is now of world-wide distribution. The 

 fourth species is the black or Asiatic roach, or black beetle, as it is sometimes 

 called, Periplaneta orientalis (Fig. 159). This roach is about one inch 

 long, with brownish-black body; in the female the wings are rudimentary, 

 and in the male the wings when folded do not quite reach the tip of the 

 abdomen. This species is common in all the eastern and Mississippi 

 Valley states and extends as far west as the great piains. It is the 

 commonest cockroach in England and Europe. The native outdoor species 

 most familiar in this country is the common wood-cockroach, Ischnoptera 



