326 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



long as two hours coating the capsule after it was deposited. It was 

 not stated whether the ootheca was otherwise concealed. The female 

 remained with her body over the ootheca for several hours and drove 

 away other cockroaches which approached. 



Sonan (1924) observed that Periplaneta americana and Periplaneta 

 australasiae spent from 40 minutes to an hour covering their oothecae, 

 and that if the females were frightened away from this activity, they 

 returned again to complete it. As well as excavating holes in the sub- 

 strate in which to deposit its oothecae, P. americana also avails itself 

 of readymade crevices of appropriate size (Ehrlich, 1943). Species of 

 Epilampra in Malaya were said by Annandale (1900) to deposit 

 their oothecae in crevices in floating logs just above the water line. 

 However, Shelford (1906) stated that four genera (including £'/'f/am- 

 pra) of the subfamily Epilamprinae are "viviparous," in which event 

 the females would carry their oothecae within their bodies during 

 embryogenesis and would not place the oothecae in crevices in logs. 



The female of Cryptocercus punctulatus was observed to make a 

 groove in a piece of w^ood, then carry her ootheca 6 inches from where 

 she had dropped it and place it in the groove ; she covered the ootheca 

 so that only a portion was visible (Cleveland in Cleveland et al., 

 1934). Dr. W. L. Nutting (personal communication, 1954) collected a 

 number of oothecae of C. punctulatus in the field and found each one 

 almost completely sealed off with bits of wood in a deep groove in the 

 roof of a chamber in a log. The keel of the ootheca was visible but the 

 rest was well camouflaged. He stated that "The adult pair usually 

 frequents the chamber at this time, while their broods of previous 

 years occupy neighboring galleries." 



Berland (1924) observed a female of Lohoptera decipiens filling a 

 hole (the abandoned nest of a hymenopteron) with earth that she 

 carried in her mouth ; he later found her ootheca behind the earthen 

 barricade which she had erected. 



In summary, the following species of oviparous cockroaches have 

 been observed concealing their oothecae (only those references not 

 previously cited are given) : Blatta orientalis; Cryptocercus punctu- 

 latus; Ectobius Sylvester (Harz, 1956, 1957) ; Epilampra sp. ; Eury- 

 cotis floridana (Roth and Willis, 1954a) ; Lohoptera decipiens; Balta 

 scripta, Methana curvigera, Methana marginalis, and Methana caneae 

 (Pope, 1953a) ; Pelmatosilpha marginalis, Pelmatosilpha purpura- 

 scens, and Nauclidas nigra (Bunting, 1956) ; Periplaneta americana 

 (Haber, 1919; Adair, 1923; Sein, 1923; Nigam, 1933; Gould and 

 Deay, 1938; Rau, 1940a) ; Periplaneta australasiae (Girault, 1915b; 

 Spencer, 1943; Pope, 1953) ; Periplaneta brunnea (Roth and Willis, 



