CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF COMMON INSECTS I05 



4. Gennan Cockroach or Croton Bug (Edobia germanica L.), has 

 a light brown thorax marked with two dark brown stripes. Both 

 sexes with well-developed wings. Active and wary, relatively small, 

 ^8 inch long. 



All the roaches have a foetid roachy odor, and are said to feed on 

 the bedbug (Fig. 60). They are particularly abundant in pantries, 

 kitchens and bakeries and they feed on almost any kind of dead animal 

 matter and cereal products. The eggs are produced in a brown cap- 

 sule which is often carried about for a time before deposited in a crev- 

 ice or nook. 



Control. — A bait of powdered borax mixed with sweetened chocolate; 

 a trap of flour and plaster-paris and water; fumigation with hydro- 



pic. 60. — The German roach {Ectohia germanica) : a, first stage; b, second stage; 

 c, third stage; d, fourth stage; e, adult; /, adult female with egg case; g, egg-case, 

 enlarged; h, adult with wings spread. All natural size except g. {From Riley.) 



cyanic acid gas. Dust the runways or hiding places with sodium 

 fluoride mixed with flour by means of a dust gun or blower. Boric 

 acid is also effective. 



ORDER MANTOIDEA (PRAYING MANTIDS) 



Family MANTID.S 



The Praying Mantids are predaceous insects and for centuries 

 have been looked upon as uncanny creatures both in the old and new 

 worlds. The most common American species is Stagmomantis Carolina, 

 but this form does not breed normally north of southern New Jersey, 

 Pennsylvania and Ohio. In 1899, however, the European species 



