HEMIPTEROUS INSECTS. 



OF rnE BLATTA, OR COCK-ROACH TRIBE. 



Some of the species of Blatta, are destitute botli of wings and 

 wing-cases. Their larvae differ bat little in their general appearance 

 from the perfect insects. In a pupa state thej have, between the 

 thorax and the abdomen, two broad and flat rings, which cover much 

 of the breast, and from which place the wings afterwards appear. 



A few of these insects live in houses, and others conceal themselvea 

 in holes in the ground. 



THE COMMON, AND THE AMERICAN COCK-ROACH. 



Both these insects live in houses, where they are sometimes very 

 troublesome, from their knawing and devouring eatables, leather, 

 cloths, woolen, and other things to which they have access. The 

 common species are extremely agile, and run very swiftly. During 

 the day-time they conceal themselves in holes of walls and clefts of the 

 floors, and issue forth only in the dark, for the purposes of plunder 

 and devastation. The moment they perceive a light, they endeavor to 

 escape into the places of their retreat. The smell of these insects is so 

 powerful and unpleasant, that if they only run over provisions, they 

 frequently render them very nauseous. They are furnished with 

 wings, but their agility in other respects is so great, that they seldom 

 use them. 



The Kakkerlac, or American Cock-roach, is very common. In 

 some parts of South America, particularly in Surinam, it causes great 

 devastation in the houses, by gnawing the stuffs, cloths, and wool, 

 apd devouring and injuring the provisions. 



It is asserted by Reaumur, that the American Cock-roaches have 

 for an enemy a large species of Sphex. He says, that when one of 

 these Spheges encounters a Cock-roach, it seizes it by the head, pierces 

 it with its sting, and then carries it to its hole, the nidus, where, no 

 doubt, it has deposited its eg^^ and where the Cock-roach serves aa 

 nourishment for the future young-one. 



OF THE MANTIS TRIBE. 



Many of the insects of the present tribe have, at a little distance, so 

 much the appearance of leaves of trees, that, in countries where tbey 



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