COCKROACH. 
]i6 
means found its way long ago into our country, 
since it is hardly possible to apply the description 
to any other known kind*. A viris fide dignis 
accepi Blattam mollem vulgari sextuple majorem 
in summo templo Petropoli nostrre captam fuisse, 
quae morsu non cutem tantum earn venantium 
vulnerabat, sed et sanguinem altius copiosiusque 
eliciebat; erat digiti majoris magnitudine longi- 
tudineque, atque loco muris septo inclusa, evasit 
tamen post triduum; sed qua ratione aut via nemo 
perspexit.” 
The Blatta orientalis or common black Cock- 
roach, which is frequently called in our metropolis 
and elsewhere by the erroneous name^of the black 
beetle, is supposed to have been first imported 
from the Eastern parts of the world, and seems to 
have made great progress of late years in extend- 
ing itself throughout the kingdom. 
The Blatta Americana or American Cockroach, 
which has long ago been elegantly figured by 
Aladam Merian in her work on the insects of 
Surinam, is of a light chesnut-colour, and is ex- 
tremely common in the warmer parts of America 
and the West-Indian islands: it is somewhat larger 
than the black or eastern Cockroach. 
* I have heard from persons of good credit that one of tliese 
Blattae was found and taken in the top of the roof of the church 
at Peterborough, which was six times larger than the common 
Blatta, and which not only pierced the skin of those who en- 
deavoured to seize it, but bit so deep as to draw blood in great 
quantity; it was a thumb’s length and breadth in size, and being 
confined in a cavity of the wall, after two or three days made its 
escape, no one knew how.” 
