CONTROL OF HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



33 



cockroach/ frequently brought to our shores by vessels, is a red- 

 dish brown form about an inch and a quarter long, easily recog- 

 nized by the yellow, irregular, oval markings just behind the 

 head. A slender, light green cockroach- about an inch long is 

 occasionally introduced with tropical fruits. The smallest and the 

 most pestiferous of all is the croton bug,^ a light brown, dark 

 marked cockroach only about f of an inch in length. 



Habits. The larger American or European cockroaches are fre- 

 quently somewhat abundant, but the most numerous is the smaller 

 croton bug. These insects find the dampness of water pipes very 

 congenial, and on account of their abundance in such places, they 

 are widely known as water bugs. Roaches, both large and small, 



Fig. 20 Oriental cockroach: a and c, female from above and the side: b, male; d, a half 

 grown individual; all natural size. (After Marlatt, U. S. Dep't Agric. Div. Ent. Bui. 4. n. s. 

 1896) 



feed upon a variety of vegetable and animal matter. The refuse 

 scraps of the sink, the food on the pantry shelves, woolens, leather 

 of shoes, furniture or books, the sizing or paste of cloth-bound 

 books and similar materials are all liable to be gnawed by these 

 almost omnivorous pests. Aside from the actual amount of 

 injury inflicted, the fetid, roachy odor is imparted to infested 

 food stufifs. It is only fair to state that these disgusting pests are 

 known to feed upon that horror of the housewife, the bedbug. 

 There is small choice between the two evils. 



>Periplaneta australasiae Linn. 

 'Panchlora hyalina Stahl. 

 'Ectobia germanica Linn. 



