BLATTID/E. ECTOBIUS. 4S 



Genus XVI.— ECTOBIUS, Westwood. 



Antennce glabrous, very slender ; head nutant ; thorax rounded in front, and 

 concealing the head, slightly produced in the middle behhid; eyes small; 

 el;i/tra in the males as long as the abdomen, with a single curved channel 

 towards the base ; wings generally complete in both sexes ; body oblong, 

 more or less depressed above, mostly glabrous, sometimes slightly pubescent 

 above ; abdomen of the males furnished at the apex writh two jointed pro- 

 cesses only, but destitute of styles ; in the female the terminal segment is 

 not carinated beneath ; legs moderate, posterior rather the longest ; femora 

 rarely with spines beneath ; tibioe with spines on the outer edge : tarsi with 

 the three basal joints gradually diminishing in length, the basal one not so 

 long as the four others united ; claws without a cushion between them. 



This genus embraces all the truly indigenous species of " Cock- 

 roach,"" though probably the first two of those, hereafter given, may 

 have been introduced as there surmised: they differ not only in 

 their smaller size and paler tints from Blatta, but from having the 

 tarsi dissimilar in the proportions of the joints, the basal one being 

 shorter than the remainder united ; the males are not furnished with 

 styles at the apex of the abdomen, and both sexes are generally 

 winged : all but the first two occur beneath the bark of trees. 



Rusty-brown, somewhat obscure ; head with a white dot between the eyes 

 on each side; thorax immaculate ; elytra abbreviated in the male, truncate 

 at the apex, longitudinally veined and transversely strigose, as in the pre- 

 ceding species ; wings small, whitish, with the costa fuscous ; female 

 without wings, and with the rudiments only of elytra ; abdomen and 

 appendages as in Bl. Americana: legs ferruginous, with concolorous spines; 

 tarsi testaceous; pulvilli (or cushions) minute. j 



Like the foregoing insect this has been introduced into this country, and is 

 not, therefore, an aboriginal native : it occurs, however, in houses, especially 

 in London and in maritime commercial towns, in utter profusion, swarming 

 by myriads in some of the underground apartments of the metropolis : it is 

 a native of India, and has not only been introduced into this country 

 through the aid of commerce, but into most other European ones ; it appears 

 not to have reached Sweden till about a century back (1734 or 1739), having 

 been introduced from Russia; but it has been known in Britain twice as 

 long, being common in wine cellars in London " Londini apud nos in 

 cellis vinarijs," accordhig to MouiFett, whose " Theatrura" was published 

 in 163*. 



