OBSERVATIOXS OX INSECTS AXU VERMES. 337 



valances or ciirtaiDS of a bed, or any otlier furniture that 

 happens to obstruct their passage. 



They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech ; hence 

 beech will not make lasting utensiJs or furniture. If their 

 eggs are deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing vnR 

 preserve wooden furniture. White. 



Blatta Oeientahs (Cockeoach). — A neighbour com- 

 plained to me that her house was overrun with a kind of 

 black beetle, or, as she expressed herself, with a kind of 

 black-bob, which swarmed in her kitchen when they got up 

 in the morning before daybreak. 



Soon after this account, I observed an unusual insect in 

 one of my dark chimney closets, and find since, that in the 

 night they swarm also in my kitchen. On examination, I 

 soon ascertained the species to be the hlatta orientalis of 

 Linnaeus, and the hlatta molendinaria of MoufFet. The male 

 is winged ; the female is not, but shows somewhat hke the 

 rudiments of vdngs, as if in the pupa state. 



These insects belonged originally to the warmer parts of 

 America, and were conveyed from thence by shipping to the 

 East Indies ; and, by means of commerce, begin to prevail in 

 the more northern parts of Europe, as Eussia, Sweden, &c. 

 How long they have abounded in England I cannot say ; but 

 have never observed them in my house till lately. 



They love warmth, and haunt chimney closets and the 

 backs of ovens. Poda says that these and house-crickets will 

 not associate together ; but he is mistaken in that assertion, as 

 Linnaeus suspected he was. They are altogether night- 

 insects, lucifugcB, never coming forth till the rooms are dark 

 and still, and escaping away nimbly at the approach of a 

 candle. Their antennae are remarkably long, slender, and 

 flexile. 



October, 1790. — After the servants are gone to bed, tlie 

 Kitchen hearth swarms vdt\\ young crickets, and young llattcB 

 molendinnrice of all sizes, from the most minute growth to 

 their fidl proportions. They seem to live in a friendly 

 manner together, and not to prey the one on the other. 



August, 1792. — After the destruction of many thousands 

 of blatta; onolendinaricd, we find that at intervals a fresh 

 detachment of old ones arrives, and particularly during this 



