BLATTELLA GERMANICA. 91 



England by the soldiers returning from the Crimea 

 in 1857 ; but this is erroneous : it was present in parts 

 of the British Isles before that date. For Stephens * 

 placed it amongst the indigenous species, although he 

 says it is extremely doubtful whether this insect is 

 really indigenous, as it appears to be confined to 

 dwellings and warehouses, and it occurs, not un- 

 commonly, in merchant vessels. t Further, there is 

 distinct evidence, from the Hope Collection in Oxford, 

 that it was numerous in parts of Britain before the 

 date of the return from the Crimea. There are several 

 old specimens, one of which is labelled " Infesting the 

 kitchens of houses at Kildare, Ireland, living behind 

 the skirting and abounding in the crevices of the 

 kitchen-table, destroying all kinds of paper and in 

 many ways very troublesome, March 1852." There 

 is another specimen labelled in the same handwriting, 

 " Mr. Gray Dudley ; taken by him in his garden at 



/ / K 



the foot of Castle Hill."} Kirby and Spence say that 



it comes out in the da v time. 



>/ 



DISTRIBUTION. B. yc'nnanira is a cosmopolitan 

 species, and is spreading everywhere. Its home 

 appears to be the more central and northern parts of 

 the Palearctic region. It occurs wild in the north-east 

 of Europe as far west as Thuringia and Saxony, the 

 Hartz Mountains and Westphalia, and also at Koster 

 Neuberg near Vienna. It seems to be commoner in 



o 



eastern than in western Europe. Other localities for 

 it are France (houses and vessels), Holland and 

 Belgium, Britain, Spain, Xorth Africa, North 

 America, Japan, Siberia, Mexico, Ceylon, Xew 

 Holland, Xew Guinea, Jamaica, Martinique, Chili, 

 Paraguay, probably Australia, and no doubt many 

 other places also. 



: ' 111. Br. Eiit. Mand.' vi, p. 46, 1835. 



t Kirby and Spence (1828) mention it as "abounding in some houses," i, 

 p. 24:2. 



J Burr, ' Ent. Eecord,' xii, 1900, p. 98. Had Dale's examples (now in 

 Oxford) only been labelled they might have been useful in this connection. 



