t 



THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 295 



count of the length of time necessary for such an operation, or 

 because of the fact that the roots of the rhododendron were so 

 fine and fibrous and so imbedded in the soil that it would be im- 

 possible to separate them and have anything left that would grow. 



Some persons say that Gryllotalpa will never amount to much 

 in New Jersey, which may be true, but what is to pi'event her from 

 being carried to other parts of the United States just as she was 

 brought to New Jersey? Anyhow, she has a bad reputation in 

 Europe. 



The Case of Blaberus discoidalis. 



(PI. XIV, fig. 1). 



Just like Gryllotalpa, the large Cockroach, Blaberus, came to 

 New Jersey in a boat, but in this case, the boat sailed from a 

 South American port instead of an European one. This boat 

 carried among other things, numerous cases of wild orchids, which 

 were consigned to a New Jersey orchid grower. It is somewhat 

 difficult to determine just when Blaberus and his associates crawled 

 into these cases and why they wanted to come to New Jersey. 

 Perhaps they were chasing each other around the boxes while they 

 stood on the dock of a South American port and a few dodged in 

 to hide and were later carried on board. Perhaps they were 

 already on the ship and crawled in the boxes for green food or 

 want of something better to do or in search of amusement. How- 

 ever, these cases of orchids finally stood outside of a greenhouse 

 in New Jersey Avaiting to be unpacked. This work was done out- 

 side so that Blaberus could not get into the house and thrive. 



The official inspector was there also but Blaberus knew naught 

 of inspectors and regulations and when the plant in which he was 

 hiding was picked up, quick as a flash he dropped to the ground 

 and scooted off. The greenhouse man said, "Well he will die 

 just as soon as the weather gets cold, anyhow." Did he? Well, 

 I guess not. Just as if an intelligent roach couldn't find a crack 

 in a greenhouse, large enough to squeeze through. Then the in- 

 spector pulled out a little red book and marked down therein, 

 "Blaberus discoidalis on orchids from South America." And that 

 is all, except that Blaberus and others of his kind are doing very 

 Ayell now in New Jersey greenhouses. Of course, they are almost 



