102 



FAMILY ii. BLATTID;E. THE COCKROACHES. 



pale reddish-brown, the middle of abdomen, and cerci darker. Pronotum 

 subelliptical, three-tenths wider than long, widest behind the middle, all 

 the sides and angles rounded, discal impressions absent. Median dorsal 

 segment modified as in brunnea. Supra-anal plate with apex feebly con- 

 cave. Cerci as in brunnea. Apex of subgenital plate broadly emarginate 

 at middle. Female More robust, colored as in $ , pronotum broader and 

 more convex. Tegmina broader and less elongate. Supra-anal plate 

 feebly notched at apex. Length of body, $, 23.625.5, 9, 24.3 29; of 

 pronotum, $, 6.27.2, 5,7.88.8; of tegmina, $, 24.826.3, 9, 22.925-7 

 mm. Width of pronotum, $, 8.3 9.3, 9, 10 11.4; of tegmina, $, 7-9 

 8.4, 9,8.79.7 mm (Fig. 48.) 



Sanford and Dunedin, Fla. ; Nov. to March. Frequent at 

 Dunedin beneath logs, old burlap bags and other cover in old 



orange orchards, often in company 

 with Pycnoscelus surinamensis 

 and Eurycotis floridana. Occurs 

 throughout central and southern 

 Florida from Cedar Keys and Fer- 

 naudina south to Miami and Key 

 West. Common beneath signs on 

 trees near borders of towns and in 

 and about old houses and hotels. 

 Scudder (1877a, 94) first recorded 

 it from the United States, his spec- 



Fig. 48. Female, life-size. (After 

 Howard & Marlatt.) 



imens having been sent to him 



from Green Cove Springs, Fla., 

 under the name of the "Florida Cockroach/' the party sending 

 stating that it "frequently occurs in the pitchers of Sarracenia, 

 has been abundant in Florida for 18 years, and is the torment of 

 housekeepers." Davis (R. & H., 1914, 100) states that "at Punta 

 Gorda there was a vacant house at the end of the town frequented 

 at night by a Nanny and Billy goat, and on warm evenings many 

 Periplaneta a-ustrolasice would run about on the piazza floor and 

 on the sides of the house. They were seen feeding on the excre- 

 ment of the goats and were no doubt to a great degree dependent 

 upon them." It also is a circumtropical species and is not estab- 

 lished in this country north of Florida, though adventive speci- 

 mens have been taken in many of the eastern and northern States 

 and even as far north as Montreal and Toronto, Canada. Where 

 introduced by accident into greenhouses, it increases in numbers 

 very rapidly and sometimes becomes a serious pest. 21 



21 Entom. News, XVI, 1905, 183. 



