BLATTA OBIENTALIS. 99 



unwelcome guest in human habitations. The dis- 

 covery of specimens in the Crimean peninsula living 

 under dead leaves, vegetable detritus and stones, in 

 woods and copses far from any human habitation, is 

 a fact of considerable interest, and it is perhaps per- 

 missible now to regard Southern Russia as the centre 

 whence this ubiquitous insect has spread." This in 

 itself does not constitute a proof that the original home 

 of B. orientalis has been discovered, for but nineteen 

 specimens in all were examined ; but there is a very 

 fair probability that such is the case ; all the same, 

 though it has now spread practically all over the 

 world, it still inhabits principally Asia and Europe- 

 almost always, it would seem, living indoors under 

 artificial conditions. 



DISTRIBUTION IN BRITAIN. 



Following the trade routes B. orientalis made its way to 

 Holland and England in the reign of Elizabeth. Early in the 

 seventeenth century Swammerdam knew it as an inhabitant 

 of Holland,, and spoke of it as: " Insectum illud Indicum, sub 

 nomine Kak'kerlak satis notum ' -the Indian insect well known 

 as Kakkerlak. In 16:24 Moufet, in his 'Insectorum Theatrum/ 

 speaks of its occurrence in wine-cellars, etc., in England. It 

 seems to have spread here slowly, for Gilbert White, in 1790, 

 speaks of it as an unusual insect at Selborne. By 1829 it was 

 established at Derby. It is possible that it may not yet have 

 reached some northern and western villages. It has, however, 

 been observed in the Scilly Isles, in the Isle of Man, and in 

 the Orkneys. 



In Sibbald's " Historia Aniuialium in Scotia' ('Scotia 

 Illustrata/ 1684) we find, Blatta, the Moth-fly, which is pre- 

 sumably B. orientalis. In a "List of Insects found in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh ' by C. Stewart, published in 

 the ' Memoirs of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc/ for 1809, 

 vol. i, p. 572, occurs Blatta orientalis. In Gr. Don's "Account 

 of the Plants and Animals of the County of Forfar ' 

 (Headrick's ' View of the Agriculture of Angus, or For- 

 farshire/ 1813, Appendix, p. 50) we read: " Blatta orientalis 

 found in some of the bakehouses in the seaport towns." 



* < A Naturalist in Borneo/ p. 115, 1916. 



