Sub-order II. BLATTODEA. 



(Cockroaches.) 



Cockroaches or Blackbeetles ! As we have so often 

 been told, the second colloquial name of these insects 

 is not a happy one, since they are neither black nor 

 beetles, though to the casual observer they are suffi- 

 ciently dark, and like enough to beetles, to well merit 



*/ CD 



the title. The other popular name- -Cockroach- -seems 

 scarcely more appropriate, since the creatures bearing 

 it have no connection with either fowl or fish. This 

 term seems to be derived from the Spanish word 

 " cucaracha," but if this means "a little berry," the 

 fitness of the name again is not very apparent. 

 "Cucaracha," it seems, means " woodlouse " also, and 

 a curled-up woodlouse would not be so very unlike a 

 cockroach ootheca. 



Shelford has an interesting note on this subject. He 

 remarks that Americans have abbreviated this word to 

 "roach," and says*: "As s roach ' is good Anglo- 

 Saxon for a species of fish, the use of the word for an 

 insect is objectionable. ' Cockroach ' is derived from 

 the Spanish ' cucaracha,' a word of obscure etymology 

 but possibly derived from some South American Indian 

 word signifying this insect. ' Cuco ' in Spanish means 

 a sort of caterpillar or bug, and 'cucaracha' is possibly 

 connected with this : if so the elision of tfte first 

 syllable of f Cockroach,' the syllable which originally 

 gave the word its significance, is doubly objectionable." 



Two colloquial names attached to an insect proclaim 

 it a familiar one ; and it would seem that to the 

 cockroaches the well-known proverb may with justice 

 be applied, which says that "familiarity breeds 

 contempt ' ; though it may be that to those whose 

 duties lie in the kitchen or the bakehouse "contempt' 

 is far too mild a term by which to express their 



* ' A Naturalist in Borneo/ p. 114. 



