156 



I. Peri pl ax eta, Burmeister (1838.) 

 In this genus the sub- anal stylets of the male are well developed ; the 

 last abdominal sternite of the female is divided ; the supra-anal plate is 

 either truncate, or pointed and notched at the end, and extends farther 

 back than the sub-genital plate ; while the abdomen is wider than the front 

 part of the body. All the femora are armed beneath, on each of the car- 

 ina, with a single row of slender, curved spines, while the tibite bear a 

 double row of much longer ones on each of tbeir margins. Two of the 

 largest species occurring in the state belong in this genus. 

 1. Perii'laneta okientai.is, ( L. ) The Oriental Cockroach. The " Black 

 Beetle." 

 Periplaneta orientalis, Burmeister, Handbuch der Entom.,IL, 183s, 504. 

 Eiley, Stand. Nat. Hist., II., 1884, 172, fig. 248. 

 Id., Insect Life, II., March, 1890, 2H7. 

 Comstock, Intr. to Ent., I., 1888, 93. 

 Fernald, Orth. of N. Eng., 1888. 52, fig. 21. m. 

 Hyatt & Arms, Insecta, 1890, 102, pl. 4, rigs. 54, 55. 

 Kakerlac orientalis, Serville, Hist. Nat. des Orthopteres, 1839, 72. 

 Blatta orientalis, Harrfs, Ins. Inj. Veg., 18112, 145, fig. 66. m. 



Rathvon, U. S. Ag. Rep., 1862, 374, figs. 4, 5. 

 Styhpyga orientalis, Scudder, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., VII., 1862, 416. 

 (Hover, U. S. Ag. Rep., 1874, 132, fig. 4. 

 Female with rudimentary tegmina which do not exceed 5 mm. in length. 

 Male with the tegmina and wings well developed, the former covering 

 three- fourths of the abdomen, the latter almost as long. General color, 

 dark, mahogany brown, the limbs lighter, thepronotum without a yellow 

 margin. The supra-anal plate of the male is truncate ; that of the female 

 is rounded with a shallow notch at the end. 



Measurements: Male — Length of body, 22.5 mm.; of tegmina, 14 mm.; of 

 pronotum, 6 mm.; width of pronotum, 8 mm. Female — Length of body, 

 27.5 mm.; greatest width of body, 13 mm. 



The eggs of the Oriental cockroach are sixteen in number, and the 

 large horny capsule or ootheca in which they are packed is carried about 

 by the mother for a week or longer when she drops it in a warm and 

 sheltered place. Along one side of the capsule, which resembles in form 

 and color a diminutive seed of the pawpaw, Asimina triloba, Duval, is a 

 seam where the two edges are cemented closely together. When the 

 young are hatched they excrete a liquid which dissolves the cement and 



