PEBIPLAXETA AUSTRALASIA. 107 



VARIATION. --Size and general colouring are fairly 

 constant. The arrangement and relative proportions 

 of the two colours on the pronotum vary somewhat, 



and the ' yellow rino- is sometimes nearly obsolete. 



/ / 



A specimen from the Victoria regia House in Kew 

 Gardens had the yellow ring of the pronotum reduced 

 to a thin band anteriorly and a three-pointed spot 

 behind : the face also was dark in colour. 



DATE.- -No doubt the same may be said of this 

 species as of filittfa orientalis on p. 97. 



HABITS, ETC.- -Some cockroaches that are domiciled 

 with us act the part of scavengers to a great extent, 

 and, though obnoxious in many ways, probably do 

 very little real damage. Apparently, however, this 

 cannot be said of P. (iitxti-tditxiaB; the reports of 

 damage done by it are too frequent and definite.* 

 Apart from a considerable number of casual examples 

 which are from time to time reported as arriving 

 here, this cockroach is often found established in 

 orchid and other glasshouses, in Botanic Gardens, 



o ' 



in the Zoological Gardens, and in similar places. On 



12 January 1914 in the warm tortoise-house in the 



./ 



Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, some imagines 

 of P. australasiae were seen. One, apparently hurt, 

 wriggled on its back down to the water. After a 

 time a Painted Terrapin (Ghrysemys picta) of North 

 America caught and ate it. Xo doubt in such a 

 locality the conditions of existence are very favour- 

 able to it. Apparently the same may be said of Kew 

 Gardens, where it is strongly established : it appears 

 to be the most abundant of the cockroaches found 

 there. I had several times received consignments 

 from the Gardens, and on 10 April 1897 I paid a 

 visit to examine it in its adopted home. AVe went 

 first to one of the very hot forcing-pits, where some 

 were generally to be found, but did not see any. 

 Specimens that had been previously captured and 



* Shelf ord found it a serious museum-pest in Sarawak ('A Naturalist in 

 Borneo/ p. 116). 



