338 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



prefer having their corners cleaned in the ordinary way, with 

 soap and water ; nevertheless, it is sometimes of service in this 

 way. This cockroach is of a dark-brown color, about an inch in 

 length ; the male having short wings, while the female has only 

 rudimentary wings. It is very troublesome in kitchens, coming 

 out at night when the lights are out. 



A somewhat larger insect is the American cockroach (Peripla- 

 neta americana), which is a lighter brown color, both the male 

 and female having well-developed wings. This species is not so 

 often found in houses, but frequents water-pipes and sewers and 

 the cargoes of vessels. 



The smallest cockroach which is a pest in our houses is the 

 "water-bug" (Ectdbia lapponica). It is also known as the " Cro- 

 ton-bug." This insect is very common in houses in New Eng- 

 land, and, though eating any kind of food, is especially fond of 

 bread. It frequents bakeries, where it proves a great annoyance, 

 sometimes being baked in the bread in spite of care. It also eats 

 the covers of books bound in cloth, but will not touch those bound 

 in leather. 



It has been said that sailors have been greatly troubled by 

 cockroaches eating the nails of their fingers and toes, and the 

 hard parts of their feet and hands, but this has been questioned. 

 However, a writer in Nature affirms that while in Australia he 

 was awakened one night by cockroaches nibbling his feet, which 

 were badly blistered, and in the morning he found the skin had been 

 eaten from a large blister, causing a painful sore, and that the 

 hard skin of the heel had also been eaten. Another writer in the 

 same journal says that this habit of cockroaches is well known to 

 all West Indians. 



Borax is very disagreeable to cockroaches and will drive them 

 away, and it is said to kill them if mixed with white sugar and 

 sprinkled around the corners frequented by them. The following 

 receipt for a preparation to exterminate cockroaches is given in 

 a late number of Science : thirty-seven parts of borax, nine parts 

 of starch, and four parts of cocoa. This preparation should be 

 sprinkled around their haunts. 



Insect-powder does not kill them but renders them stupid, and 

 while in this condition they can easily be swept up and destroyed. 

 In England cockroaches are sometimes caught with stale beer, 

 which is placed in a deep dish, bits of wood being so arranged 

 that the cockroaches can climb into the liquid. The following 

 preparations are mentioned in Harris's Insects Injurious to Vege- 

 tation, but, as they are poisonous, they should be used with the 

 greatest care. The first is a tablespoonful of red lead and Indian 

 meal, mixed with enough molasses to make a thick batter ; the 

 other is a teaspoonful of powdered arsenic mixed with a table- 



