SUBFA M 1 L V IV. BLATT1 N .K. 



95 



described in key to subfamilies. Length of body, $, 20 24, 9, 18 23; 

 of pronotum, $, 5.76.3, 9, 6.17.1; of tegmina, $, 11.916.7, 9, 4.8 

 6.8 mm. Width of pronotum, $, 7.17.9, 9, 8.29.6; of tegmina, $, 



56.7, $, 2.84.2 mm. 



(Fig. 



46.) 



Iii Indiana the Oriental roach is found in all the larger towns 

 and cities, and is one of the most noisome and disagreeable insects 

 with which certain classes of their inhabitants have to contend. 

 It seldom occurs in houses in thinly settled localities, and never, 

 as far as my observation goes, beneath the bark of logs and stumps. 

 In Florida it probably occurs in the larger towns throughout the 

 State, but is recorded only from Miami and West Palm Beach 

 (CitiHlcU, 1905, 210). It is a cosmopolitan species which has 

 spread throughout the tropical and temperate zones and is known 

 in this country from Halifax, N. S., Toronto, Ontario, and New 

 Haven, Conn., west to Minnesota and Southern California and 

 south to Florida and Texas. Hebard (1917a. 170) states that in 

 Philadelphia it appears in swarms during the month of May co- 

 incident with the arrival of the shad in the Delaware River, and 

 is therefore locally known as the Shad Roach. 



As its name indi- 

 cates, the Oriental 

 roach is a native of 

 Asia, but has been car- 

 ried from one country 

 to another by ship- 

 ping. It delights in 

 filth and darkness, 

 and hence in the holds 

 of vessels, the cellars 

 and basements of ten- 

 ement houses and in 

 all dam]*, dirty places 

 it swarms by thou- 

 sands, undoubtedly do- 

 much good as a 



Fig. 46. Blatta oi'icntalis L; a, female; b, male; 

 c, side view female; d, half grown specimen. All 

 natural sizes. (After Howard & Marlatt.) 



ing- 



scavenger, but infin- 

 itely more harm on ac- 

 count of its omnivorous and insatiable appetite. Like most 

 other members of the family, it feeds mainly at night, appearing 

 to detest and avoid light, as one can readily prove by taking a 

 lighted lamp suddenly into its haunts, when a hurried scrambling 

 will take place toward its daylight retreats, and but a few mo- 



