No. l6.] ORTHOPTERA OF CONNECTICUT. 59 



It is a native of tropical America, but has been distributed 

 around the world. It is said to be much more cleanly in its 

 choice of an abiding place than is Blatta orientalis. When 

 numerous it becomes a serious pest. 



" The young of the American roach require about a year to 

 reach maturity. The rate of growth of it and other species 

 depends, however, largely on the food and temperature con- 

 ditions, and under unfavorable circumstances the nymph stage 

 is much prolonged." " The abundance of roaches is, therefore, 

 apparently not accounted for so much by their rapidity of multi- 

 plication as by their unusual ability to preserve themselves from 

 ordinary means of destruction and by the scarcity of natural 



enemies." 



P. australasiae Fabricius. Australian Roach. 



This cockroach is slightly smaller and darker colored than the 

 above species. It is readily distinguished by the yellow stripe 

 on the basal half of the outer margin of the tegmina. 



Measurements. 



Body Pronotum Tegmina 



Length Width 



Female 23 7 9.5 22 



-Mai 6 . . .. .. •• 



New Haven, August (D. B. Pangburn) ; Wallingford, 5 

 August (D. J. Caffrey). 



It will probably be found in most cities, especially those along 

 the coast. The Australian roach is very abundant in the South, 

 where it is a greater pest than either of the other members of 

 this sub-family. 



MANTIME. 



The large insects of this family will be readily recognized 

 by the long prothorax, and the first pair of legs which are fitted 

 for grasping. The pronotum is the longest segment of the body. 

 Head large, triangular, and so joined to the prothorax that it is 

 freely movable. Antennae slender, shorter than the body. The 

 abdomen of the male is much more slender than that of the 

 female. The fore legs are very stout, spiny, and terminating in 

 a single claw which, with the five-jointed tarsus, folds into a 

 groove on the under side of the tibia. The other legs are long 



