106 FAMILY II. BLATTID.E. THE COCKROACHES. 



handsome tropical American species of wide distribution, estab- 

 lished in this country only near Brownsville, Texas, but often in- 

 troduced with tropical fruits ; records of adventive specimens be- 

 ing given by Hebard (1917a, 269) from numerous places in New 

 England and the northern United States. Recorded by Scudder, 

 Felt and others as P. poeyl, viridis, nivea, liyalina, exolita and 

 rirescens. Of these names P. pociji Sauss. is a synonym of cuben- 

 sis, the others, names or synonymys of extra-limital species. 

 Hebard states that he does not believe that cubensis "can estab- 

 lish itself in temperate climates except under artificial conditions. 

 In the tropics it is essentially an out-door dweller and cannot 

 readily adapt itself to artificial surroundings as can the domicil- 

 iary forms." Riley (ISOla) has shown that P. cubensis (viridis) 

 is viviparous. 



Subfamily VI. BLABERINJE. 



Very large species having the tegmina and wings fully de- 

 veloped, the former with numerous oblique discoidal sectors; fe- 

 mora unarmed or supplied with few spines; tarsal joints stout, 

 with very large pulvilli ; arolia absent. 



I. BLABERUS Serville, 1831, 37. (Gr. "harmful".) 



Head with vertex hidden by pronotuni, the latter large, con- 

 vex ; supra-anal plate bilobate in both sexes; lower front margin 

 of fore femora armed on basal half with a few short spines, these 

 succeeded by a row of close-set stout hairs and a single stout, 

 short apical spine, a similar spine also present on the other 

 femora. 



36. BLABERUS CRANIIFER Burmeister, 1838, 516. Giant Death's-head Roach. 



Male Head blackish-brown, ocelli and clypeus yellow. Pronotum 

 dull yellow, with a large shield-shaped shining blackish-brown spot, con- 

 taining four pale markings suggesting the human eyes, nose and mouth: 

 tegmina dark blackish-brown more or less dull yellow at base and middle 

 and along the costal margin. Pronotum subelliptical, the front and hind 

 margins rounded. Tegmina very broad, their tips broadly rounded. Su- 

 pra-anal plate prolonged, subquadrate, its apex slightly bilobed. Cerci 

 slender, 17-jointecl, tapering, acute. Subgenital plate asymmetrical, with 

 margin rounded from base of left side to middle of right one, then concave 

 and much softer to base of right side; styles minute, cylindrical, the right 

 one the longer. Female similar, the subgenital plate larger and more con- 

 vex, its apical margin broadly rounded and slightly produced. Length of 

 body, $, 42.245.1, 9, 48-754.8; of pronotuni, $, 12.313.6, $, 14.3- 

 14.6; of tegmina, $ and $ , 48 51.8 mm. Width of pronotuni, $ , 17.3 

 18.9, $, 20.922.1; of tegmina, $, 18.819.4, $, 19.820.6 mm. 



