BIOTIC ASSOCIATIONS OF COCKROACHES — ROTH & WILLIS I29 



Collart's (1947) statement that nymphs are never infected with 

 Hcrponiyces is not true. 



Richards and Smith (1956) concluded that there is no evidence 

 of pathogenicity in Herpomyces infections because heavily infected 

 cockroaches appear fully active in laboratory colonies ; they can run 

 at the same speed as uninfected cockroaches ; they reproduce normally 

 and do not appear to die prematurely. These workers stated that the 

 infections cause a dermatitis which is neither pathogenic nor debili- 

 tant. So far as we know there are no comparative data on longevity 

 and reproductive performance of fungus-infected versus normal 

 cockroaches. However, Gunn and Cos way (1938) have shown that 

 the presence of these fungi (identified as Stigmatomyces sp. ; see 

 p. 138) on the antennae seemed to interfere with the humidity reac- 

 tions of Blatta orientalis. Although Richards and Smith (1956) admit 

 that humidity receptors and other sense organs on the antennae may be 

 destroyed by the fungus, they state that "insects possess such a large 

 number of sensilla that the result may well be more distressing to the 

 sensory physiologist than to the insect." Yet it seems to us that the 

 loss of sense organs from fungal infection and concomitant shortening 

 of the antennae (pi. 27, A) might be considerably more of a handicap 

 to free-living cockroaches than those in laboratory colonies. 



Bode (1936) studied the flora of Periplaneta americana and cul- 

 tured Aspergillaceae and Mucorinae from the insect's body surface 

 and intestinal contents ; he also found nonsporulating yeasts in P. 

 americana. To prevent fungal growth on oothecae of P. americana, 

 Griffiths and Tauber (1942a) autoclaved their rearing containers and 

 dipped the oothecae in 70-percent alcohol for 10 seconds. 



Mercier (1906) isolated and cultured a pathogenic yeastlike parasite 

 which had invaded the fat body and blood of Blatta orientalis. The 

 abdomens of the infected insects became swollen, distended, and soft. 

 McShan (unpublished MS., 1953) consistently isolated Saccharo- 

 mycetes from the feces of Periplaneta americana. 



FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH COCKROACHES 

 The use of the asterisk (*) is explained in footnote 3, page 4. 



Phylum THALLOPHYTA 



Class FUNGI IMPERFECTI 



Order MONILIALES 



Family PSEUDOSACCHAROMYCETACEAE 



Candida zeylanoides (Castellani) Langeron and Guerra 



Natural host. — Ootheca of Blatta orientalis, Italy (Ronzoni, 1949). 



