HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



6i 



prolific, or more voracious, or fonder of warmth, or 

 swifter than its rivals, nor is it easy to see how the 

 one conspicuous structural difference, viz., the 

 rudimentary state of the wings of the female, can 

 gr eatly favour orientalis. Some slight advantage 



cycads, paper, woollen clothes, sugar, cheese, bread, 

 flesh, fish, leather, the dead bodies of their own 

 species, all are greedily consumed. Cucumber, too, 

 they will eat, though it disagrees with them horribly. 

 In the matter of temperature they are less easy to 



Fig. 39. — Blaiia Germanica (female), X 4 times natural size. 



Fi^. Afl.—Periplaiicta Americana (male), X ih times natural size. 



seems to lie in characteristics too subtle for our 

 detection or comprehension. 



As to the food of cockroaches, we can hardly except 

 any animal or vegetable substance from the long list 

 of their depredations. Bark, leaves, the pith of living 



please. They are extremely fond of warmth, lurking 

 in nooks near the 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 



