BIOTIC ASSOCIATIONS OF COCKROACHES — ROTH & WILLIS 165 



sis to the stems of rose bushes has been reported in Rhode Island and 

 Pennsylvania ; the canes were attacked both under and above ground 

 (Caudell, 1925). Doucette and Smith (1926) reported a heavy in- 

 festation of P. surinamensis in a range of greenhouses in Philadelphia : 

 "The roaches were present literally by the millions . . . Although the 

 roaches had been observed in cabinets and trash barrels for several 

 months, it was not until the manager had occasion to go through the 

 house one evening that he discovered that roaches were the cause of 

 the troubles previously attributed to soil condition, watering, fungus, 

 and other agencies . . . About 30,000 to 35,000 rose plants from a 

 total of 200,000 in the three more heavily infested houses were so 

 badly injured by the gnawing off of the bark, young buds, and shoots 

 of the main stems, that they were not in condition to be kept in the 

 beds for another season." 



In Haiti Pycnoscelus surinamensis damaged the tubers of growing 

 potatoes (Hoffman, 1927). lUingworth (1927, 1929) reported that in 

 Hawaii P. surinamensis was a minor pest of pineapples, feeding on 

 the roots. This species was very plentiful in a propagating pit in 

 England where it did much damage to various seeds and seedlings 

 (Lucas, 1930). Roeser (1940) summarized some of the above-men- 

 tioned damage caused by P. surinamensis and added damage to chrys- 

 anthemums in Hawaii and tobacco in Sumatra where this cockroach 

 destroyed 300,000 plants in a few days. Roeser was of the opinion 

 that living plants were eaten only as a substitute when the earth be- 

 came poor in food material. Zimmerman (1948) listed as host plants 

 of P. surinamensis in Hawaii : "blossoms of Tribulus; reported 

 feeding at roots of pineapples, and unconfirmed reports of damage to 

 underground parts of some other plants." Goodliffe (1958) reported 

 damage by this species to banana plants in a conservatory in northern 

 England. Cohic (1956) implied that in New Caledonia "Racines de 

 legumes" were attacked by P. surinamensis and that Zea mays Lin- 

 naeus was attacked by Supella supeUectiliimi. Wolcott (1924a) re- 

 ported that P. surinamensis damaged transplanted tobacco plants in 

 Puerto Rico by eating the interior of the stalks. Tobacco planters in 

 Cuba consider P. surinamensis injurious to the roots of tobacco plants 

 (Bruner and Scaramuzza, 1936) ; this belief was confirmed in the 

 laboratory, where adults and nymphs destroyed the roots and stems of 

 tobacco plants two inches high and ate into the edges of the leaves. 

 Dammerman (1929) reported that in Malaya this species often ap- 

 peared in large numbers in gardens where it gnawed at the under- 

 ground parts of vegetables and ornamental plants. Lever (1947) 

 listed it as a pest on the leaves of pineapple. 



