128 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



and are primarily scavengers and may under certain con- 

 ditions devour and thus remove certain offensive dead 

 animal or vegetable matter. 



They are also quite an enemy of bedbugs and will con- 

 tribute towards the destruction of this annoying pest. 

 However, the small benefit roaches may confer in both 

 these directions will hardly compensate for their presence 

 in dwellings. 



Insect Life records a very interesting letter from 

 Herbert Smith, who has traveled widely in the tropics, 

 regarding the habits and numbers of cockroaches in 

 Brazil. He says : — 



"Cockroaches are so common in Brazilian country 

 houses that nobody pays any attention to them. They 

 have an unpleasant way of getting into provision boxes, 

 and they deface books, shoes, and sometimes clothing. 

 Where wall paper is used they soon eat it off in unsightly 

 patches, no doubt seeking the paste beneath. But at 

 Corumba, on the upper Paraguay, I came across the cock- 

 roach in a new role. In the house where we were staying 

 there were nearly a dozen children, and every one of them 

 had their eyelashes more or less eaten off by cockroaches, 

 — a large brown species, one of the commonest kind 

 throughout Brazil. The eyelashes were bitten off irreg- 

 ularly, in some places quite close to the lid. Like most 

 Brazilians, these children had very long, black eyelashes, 

 and their appearance thus defaced was odd enough. 

 The trouble was confined to children, I suppose because 

 they are heavy sleepers and do not disturb the insects at 

 work. My wife and I sometimes brushed cockroaches 

 from our faces at night, but thought nothing more of the 

 matter. The roaches also bite off bits of the toenails. 



