84 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



Sir Edmund Freemantle (1904) recalled some of his experiences 

 in the British Navy. "Cockroaches in the tropics were also terrible 

 scourges. One saw little of them in fine, dry weather, but in damp, 

 wet weather they seemed to come from every hidden corner . . . our 

 remedy in the 'Spartan' was to make the boys catch them — on pain of 

 being caned. . . One brig, the 'Lily,' was so overrun by cockroaches 

 that the officers' clothes smelt of them." 



The quotation from Sonan (1924) on page 348 describes similar 

 conditions in the Japanese Navy. 



On modern cargo ships cockroaches are reported to be extremely 

 numerous in the galley, the crew's quarters, and sometimes in the 

 holds ; they dwell in hot, humid environments such as the casing 

 around steam pipes (Monro, 1951). Williams (1931) reported that 

 Blattella germanica was the most important cockroach pest on ships 

 seen at New York. Although often numerous in the holds, the cock- 

 roaches as a rule congregated in living quarters. They were also 

 frequently found between tarpaulins covering the hatches. It was not 

 unusual to kill 20,000 to 50,000 in the forecastle, and more than 20,000 

 have been taken from a single stateroom. Simanton (1946) inspected 

 the S.S. William Kieth when it berthed at San Francisco from a 

 lo-month voyage to the South Pacific. The holds were infested with 

 thousands of Periplaneta americana, but in the crew's quarters, mess 

 halls, and storerooms B. germanica predominated. After insecticidal 

 treatment about 2,000 P. americana were seen in each hold and as 

 many as 24 B. germanica in each cabin. Richardson (1947) reported 

 that in Army transports inspected between 1943 and 1946 at New 

 York, P. americana was found in the galleys and messes, and occasion- 

 ally heavy infestations were found deep in the holds ; B. gennanica 

 was found in the galleys and messes ; Blatta orientalis was found only 

 in the hold. 



Additional references indicating the presence of Blattella germanica 

 on ships may be found in the account of its parasite Ripidius pec- 

 tinicornis (p. 232). Although Rice (1925) and Williams (1931) cite 

 B. germanica as the most numerous cockroach on ships, Brooke 

 (1920) stated that the great majority of ship cockroaches were 

 Periplaneta americana. In addition to citing cockroach infestations 

 on ships, the following authors reported various methods for disin- 

 fecting ships: Canalis (1916), Pryor (1918), Brooke (1920), Rice 

 (1925), Williams (1931), Simanton (1946), Richardson (1947), and 

 Anonymous (1951, 1954)- 



