ORTHOPTERA. 



171 



cockroach carries the egg-case about with her until the young are ready to emerge, 

 when it is dropped. Some writers claim that the mother assists the young to escape. 

 These egg-pods are composed of the same elastic material that forms the outside cover- 

 ing of the insects themselves, and when the young escape they close again, leaving the 

 empty shells lying about on the ground. When first born the young cockroaches are 

 perfectly white, and are brooded over by their mother in a similar manner to the brood- 

 ing of the earwig already alluded to. The accompanying figure represents the ootheca 

 of Periplaneta oriental-is, natural size, and magnified. The number of moults suffered 

 during growth varies from four to six ; and immediately after each moult the insect is 

 quite white, to which fact the numerous reports of albino cockroaches must for the 

 most part be attributed. 



The Blattidae as a rule are omnivorous, and consume everything which can possibly 

 be eaten that comes in their way. Nothing comes amiss to them, and they inflict 

 great losses upon merchants as well as upon householders. Imagine the disgust of a 

 cook on board a vessel when, upon opening a box that should contain victuals, he finds 



KIG. 247. Ectubia, yermanica, and E. lapponica, cockroaches. 



in their stead a living mass of these creatures ! On long voyages such is very apt to 

 be the case. 



The smallest of these cosmopolitan species is the German Cockroach, Ectobui 

 germanica, which is here figured in conjunction with Ectobia lapponica, a small 

 species from Lapland. This little roach is of a rather light color, and has two longi- 

 tudinal dark stripes upon its prothorax. It is chiefly found in houses, and especially 

 about the kitchen, where it lurks in some dark corner till the coming of night when it 

 sallies forth seeking what it may devour. This species is very common in houses in 

 and about all the large cities of New England, where it is called the " Croton bug." 

 Although an almost universal feeder it prefers wheat-bread to all other articles of diet. 

 It is therefore a very common and troublesome pest about bake-shops, where it lurks 

 about the ovens and the dough-trough, and, notwithstanding the utmost care on the 

 part of the baker, sometimes becomes incorporated with the dough and baked in the 

 loaf. It also causes serious damage to libraries, having a special fondness for cloth- 

 bound books, the covers of which it gnaws and renders unsightly. Leather-bound 

 books it does not touch. The use of good pyrethrum powder on the book-shelves is 

 the best remedy for this difficulty. 



