BIOTIC ASSOCIATIONS OF COCKROACHES — ROTH & WILLIS 353 



VERTEBRATES 



... on conserve avec soin les crapauds dans les maisons, et que les 

 dames les tolerent, meme sous leurs robes, en raison de leurs 

 continuels services, car ils se promenent sans cesse a la recherche 

 des Kakerlacs. 



GiRARD (1877) 



Toads. — Bufo marinus was first introduced into Puerto Rico from 

 Barbados in 1920 to reduce several major insect pests including cock- 

 roaches (Leonard, 1933). It was introduced from Puerto Rico into 

 Hawaii by C. E. Pemberton in 1932 where it rapidly became estab- 

 lished; it has since been distributed throughout the Pacific area. B. 

 marinus is one of the world's largest toads ; it attains a body length 

 (exclusive of the hind legs) of 7 to 9 inches (Oliver, 1949) and has 

 been kept alive for more than 11 years in captivity (Pemberton, 

 1945). Alicata (1938) placed giant toads in a fenced area in Hawaii 

 containing an infestation of Pycnoscelus surinamensis ; after 24 hours 

 the toads were dissected and each was found to have eaten from 11 

 to 25 cockroaches. Illingworth (1941) found that 40 to 90 percent 

 of 53 stools of this toad in Hawaii contained remains of P. surina- 

 mensis. Alicata (1947) recommended the maintenance of B. marinus 

 in poultry yards to reduce the population of P. surinamensis^ the 

 vector of the chicken eye worm. 



Toads have also been recommended for controlling cockroaches in 

 houses (Meech, 1889; Sweetman, 1936). Girard (1877) cited a note 

 in a French newspaper which stated that toads were kept in houses in 

 Cuba to control the American cockroach. 



Tree frogs. — Tree frogs enclosed in a room overnight were said 

 to efifectively clear it of cockroaches (Marlatt, 191 5) ; on sugar plan- 

 tations in Australia, these amphibians were encouraged in houses and 

 kept as pets because they hunted and devoured large brown cock- 

 roaches (Froggatt, 1906). 



Birds. — In Guadeloupe, Dutertre (1654) claimed that all the fowls 

 of the country were fond of small cockroaches and lived on practically 

 nothing else. In Hawaii (Zimmerman, 1948) and in the Lesser An- 

 tilles (Ballou, 19 1 2) cockroaches are eaten by poultry whenever the 

 birds can find them. In Puerto Rico, Wetmore (1916) stated that 

 owls kept in houses feed extensively on cockroaches ; the stomach of 

 one owl which had been kept in a native house was filled entirely with 

 cockroaches. In British Guiana, Beebe (1925) found that cockroaches 

 were eaten by 27 species of birds. 



Reptiles. — H. (1800) claimed that two lizards cleared his house 

 of the "true brown cock-roach" and suggested that lizards be used for 



