CHAPTER XXVI 



Cockroaches 

 A. N. Caudell 



Contending with bedbugs for general unpopularity come cockroaches, 

 noisome creatures scarcely less widely known, or less thoroughly disliked, 

 than those smaller odorous and odious pests. The importance of roaches 

 in houses and camps is considerable, not only as unsanitary and disgust- 

 ing vermin, but as mechanical carriers of disease, and also very likely 

 as intermediary hosts to certain disease-causing organisms. Experiments 

 have shown these insects eminently fitted for both roles, and their impor- 

 tance warrants attention by housekeeper and sanitarian. 



No more offensive insect frequents the habitation of man than the 

 cockroach. These insects have long been known as pests of the house- 

 hold and are found throughout most of the civilized world, especially in 

 temperate and tropical regions. The ancients are said to have called them 

 lucifuga, by reason of their nocturnal habits, but the more modern name 

 cockroach, or the briefer designation roach, is the one by which they 

 are now universally known. Certain species are, however, given special 

 common names, which may vary in different regions, as water bug, Croton 

 bug, German roach, etc., which are names by which the little, brown, 

 house roach is known in various places. 



Not all cockroaches are loathsome creatures of disgust, in fact there 

 are very few of the many hundreds of described forms that are of any 

 material economic importance. Some species of roaches arc handsome in 

 form and color, in some cases resembling certain beautifully colored 

 beetles, a decided contrast to the flat noisome creatures of the kitchen. 



Economically, roaches are of importance onl}^ as household pests 

 and disease disseminators, there being but comparatively few instances 

 of their injuring living plants or doing other damage to things out of 

 doors. But in houses and camps they injure many things, defile food in 

 pantries, eat paint from pictures, covers from books, glue from stamps, 

 and gnaw holes in clothing. The}' will devour almost anything, and have 

 been recorded as biting off eyelashes, gnawing toenails, and biting the 

 greasy fingers of sleeping children. 



As a rule but one species of roach occurs at one place in injurious 

 abundance, two or more forms rarely occurring together in any number. 



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