ITS NATURAL HISTORY. 21 



oven, and abounding in bakehouses, distilleries, and all kinds of 

 factories which provide a steady heat together with a supply of 

 something eatable. Cold is the only check, and an unwarmed 

 room during an English winter is more than they can endure. 

 They are strictly nocturnal, and shun the light, although when 

 long unmolested they become bolder. The flattened body 

 enables the Cockroach to creep into very narrow crevices, and 

 during cold weather it takes refuge beneath the flags of a 

 kitchen floor, or in other very confined spaces. . 



The Cockroach belongs to a miscellaneous group of animals, 

 which may be described as in various degrees parasitic upon 

 men. These are all in a vague sense domestic species, but have 

 not, like the ox, sheep, goat, or pig, been forcibly reduced to 

 servitude; they have rather attached themselves to man in 

 various degrees of intimacy. The dog has slowly won his place 

 as our companion ; the cat is tolerated and even caressed, but 

 her attachment is to the dwelling and not to us ; the jackal and 

 rat are scavengers and thieves ; the weasel, jackdaw, and magpie 

 are wild species which show a slight preference for the neigh- 

 bourhood of man. All of these, except the cat, which holds a 

 very peculiar place, possess in a considerable degree qualities 

 which bring success in the great competitive examination. 

 They are not eminently specialised, their diet is mixed, their 

 range as natural species is wide. Apart from man, they would 

 have become numerous and strong, but those qualities which fit 

 them so well to shift for themselves, have had full play in the 

 dwellings of a wealthy and careless host. Of these domestic 

 parasites at least two are insects, the House-fly and the Cock- 

 roach; and the Cockroach in particular is eminent in its peculiar 

 sphere of activity. The successful competition of Cockroaches 

 with other insects under natural conditions is sufiiciently proved 

 by the fact that about nine hundred species have already been 

 described,* while their rapid multiplication and almost world- 

 wide dissemination in the dwellings of man is an equally 

 striking proof of their versatility and readiness to adapt them- 

 selves to artificial circumstances. In numerical frequency they 



: British Museum Catalogue of Blattariae (1868) and Supplement (1869). It is 

 probable that the number is over-estimated in this catalogue, the same species being 

 occasionally renamed. 



