310 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



Colurnix coturnix japonica, p. 277. 

 Dendrocopos mahrattensis, p. 279. 

 Ducks, p. 277. 

 Gymnasia nitdipes, p. 279. 

 Gymnopiihys leucaspis, p. 280. 

 Holoquiscalus brachypterus, p. 282. 

 Icterus portoricensis, p. 280. 

 Owl, p. 351. 

 Mammals : 

 Bassariscits astutiis, p. 288. 

 Callithrix jacchus, p. 285. 

 Erinaceus sp., p. 283. 

 Felis catus, p. 289. 

 Felis paradalis mearnsi, p. 290. 

 Herpestes javanicus auropimctatus 

 Herpcstes sp., p. 289. 



Partridge, p. 278. 

 Phasiamis sp., p. 277. 

 Sparrow, p. 282. 

 Tiaris bicolor omissa, p. 282. 

 Tockus birostris, p. 279. 

 Troglodytes aedon, p. 281. 

 Troglodytes aiidax, p. 281. 



Homo sapiens, p. 287. 

 Loris tardigradus, p. 284. 

 Molossus sp., p. 283. 

 Monodelphis sp., p. 283. 

 Nasiia nasita, p. 288. 

 Nasua sp., p. 289. 

 Ratins sp., p. 287. 



XV. COCKROACHES AS COMMENSALS 



These particular associations may well have been accidental and 

 due to a predilection for the same type of nesting site. But this fact 

 in no way detracts from the interest of such records. Chance must 

 play a very considerable part in first bringing symbiotic or com- 

 mensal partners together. Once such a partnership between species 

 has been firmly established, it is on the whole, fairly obvious, . . . 

 On the other hand, in the early stages before the relationship has 

 become fixed as a specific habit, individual cases are generally 

 dismissed as coincidences. It is, however, unwise to disregard such 

 isolated observations or dismiss them lightly. 



Rothschild and Clay (1957) 



The following social insects have been found harboring cockroaches 

 in a state of commensalism in which the cockroaches presumably bene- 

 fit by acquiring food from their hosts. Benefits accruing to the hosts 

 are not apparent. Unfortunately, biological details are not always 

 sufficient to substantiate the suspected association. However, it seems 

 significant that the cockroach commensals of the insects listed below 

 have been found only in association with their hosts and, so far as we 

 know, have never been found apart from them. Chopard (1938) has 

 pointed out that the myrmecophilous cockroaches are all small, being 

 only a very few millimeters long ; they are apterous or subapterous ; 

 their eyes are reduced ; and they are all of American origin. 



HOSTS OF COMMENSAL COCKROACHES 



Order ISOPTERA 



Family RHINOTERMITIDAE 



Coptotennes ceylonicus Holmgren 



Commensal. — Sphecophila ravana, Ceylon (Fernando, 1957) : Six 

 females, 50 males, and nymphs of both sexes were found among de- 



