l62 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



Cinchona pubescens Vahl. 

 Associate. — Periplaneta americana, Puerto Rico (Plank and Win- 

 ters, 1949) : In greenhouse. 



Coffea sp. 

 Associate. — Plectoptera porcellana, Puerto Rico (Sein, 1923). 



Family COMPOSITAE 



Goldenrod 



Associate. — Eurycotis floridana, Florida (Hebard, 1917) : "Climb- 

 ing about on top of goldenrod at night." 



Helianthus sp. 

 Associate. — Pseudomops septentrionalis, Texas (Hebard, 1917). 



Scorzonera acanthoclada Franch. 



Associate. — Phyllodromica tartara nigrescens, Southern Uzbekistan 

 (Bei-Bienko, 1950) : On the flowers. 



DAMAGE TO PLANTS BY COCKROACHES 



Cockroaches characteristically feed on dead plant and animal ma- 

 terial. Damage to living plants occurs principally in the Tropics or 

 under subtropical conditions in greenhouses in temperate regions. 

 Among the depredations attributed to cockroaches in text books, 

 damage to plants is seldom emphasized. This is surprising in view of 

 the many records cited below. 



Capt. William Bligh (1792), while collecting breadfruit trees in 

 Tahiti to take to the West Indies, wrote in his log during January 

 1789: "This morning, I ordered all the chests to be taken on shore, 

 and the inside of the ship to be washed with boiling water, to kill the 

 cockroaches. We were constantly obliged to be at great pains to keep 

 the ship clear of vermin, on account of the plants." 



Westwood (1869) stated that Pycnoscelus surinamensis was very 

 destructive in orchid houses feeding on buds and young shoots. Later 

 Westwood (1876) exhibited the bulb of an orchid from Ecuador 

 which contained six species of cockroaches: Blatta orientalis, [Peri- 

 planeta?] americana, [Nauphoeta?] cinerea, [Leucophaea?] maderae, 

 and two others unknown to him. Fullaway (1938) stated that cock- 

 roaches damage root tips, buds, and flowers of orchids. Periplaneta 

 americana has been said to eat the root tips and blossoms of orchids 

 (Taschenberg, 1884) and to devour the open flower petals of Cattleya 



